


Sex Ed

by iswyn



Category: Iron Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Plot, Alternate Universe - High School, Feels, Fluff, M/M, Smut, Teacher-Student Relationship, Voyeurism, Warning: Loki, more smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:57:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 21
Words: 66,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1852126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iswyn/pseuds/iswyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It never ceases to frustrate Tony that his smartest student is sliding by with barely passing grades. When he comes in on a weekend to administer a makeup exam, he discovers something that just might make Loki more interested in his grades.</p><p>I'm going to point this out for anyone who has ignored all the notes. LOKI IS UNDERAGE. He is sixteen, and if you have a problem with that, please skip this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. my own left hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [plumadesatada](https://archiveofourown.org/users/plumadesatada/gifts).



> Pluma is an enabler. That is all.
> 
> Oh yeah, and if you haven't, you should read her fic, Coveted. It's awesome, and full of feels and psychology, and things that are not just shameless smut. Just click on the collection at the top!

He was late for his own damned test.

Not like, late for a test he had to take, but late to give a stupid makeup test to the slackers in his class. Honestly, it was ridiculous. He’d given the world’s easiest midterm exam so that he wouldn’t have to do any extra work over Spring Break, and even his worst students should have managed an A on it. These two, though, they had managed the one thing he couldn’t have accounted for. They hadn’t fucking shown up.

The only way that this test could have caused him any trouble at all, and these two found it. It was like they were trying to make his life difficult. Well, one of them was. The other was just following a bad influence.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, though. One was the class troublemaker – the one who was goddamned brilliant and should have been pulling down an A easy, but just didn’t seem to give a fuck. The other was his little follower, the one whose greatest asset was his pretty face, and unfortunately for him, that didn’t really affect his ability to perform in a science class.

They were probably the ones who had turned all the stupid sports pennants upside down in the gym, and they’d probably done it while they were supposed to be taking his damned test. He wanted to just fail them, but soft-hearted Dean of Students Maria Hill wanted everyone to have an extra chance. Well, really, she just wanted to force Tony to come in to administer a stupid damned test on a Saturday.

“Oh, I’m sorry Tony, did you have plans for Spring Break? Sorry, Dear, life of a teacher. Maybe you should go work for your Daddy?” Her smirk made the irritation even worse. He hated when people who didn’t even know him thought they understood him.

How was he supposed to respond to that in a way that didn’t get him fired?

So there he was, on a Saturday morning, coming in to give his two most annoying students a test that should have been unfailable. Somehow, he figured that blondie – Fandral – would manage to find a way to fail. The last test, half his answers had been filled in with ‘I don’t know.’ Honest, he supposed. Loki, the brilliant and irritating little shit, had gotten every single answer right, then crossed out his answers and written “I reject your reality and substitute my own.”

Tony had given him an F on principle.

His father had come to parent night some weeks later, and congratulated Tony on finally being the teacher to give his ‘spoiled brat of a son the treatment he deserved.’

Somehow, this had not made Tony feel better. It was a little like his first A- in college, given because his dialogue in fiction writing wasn’t realistic enough. ‘Real people talk more than this, Mr. Stark.’ Maybe real people who weren’t his family did. Didn’t she say write what you know? A fourteen year old in college didn’t chat with frat buddies, date twenty year old girls, or have a meaningful relationship with his family. But his father had said that if he couldn’t follow directions, he deserved the bad grade. So he’d graduated with a GPA of 4.31, because of one stupid A-.

It had been too late to change the grade on Loki’s test, though. Showing weakness to teenagers was a little like cutting your hand open and jumping in a shark tank. There were theoretically things that were less intelligent, but he couldn’t think of any. And did it really matter, if you were going to die one way or the other?

He refused to go down without a fight, though.

So there he was, on a Saturday morning when he should have been still asleep in bed, or curled up with Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s most recent book, headed to administer a late midterm.

He’d bought himself two cups of coffee, and finished one on the drive over. No one needed to know that he’d Irished up the second one. A lot. If he was going to deal with these two on his vacation, he refused to do it completely sober.

Imagine his surprise when he found Hill leaving as he came in. Shit. He hoped he didn’t smell of booze.

She smiled broadly at him. That didn’t bode well for his future. “I see you’re late. Your students were waiting outside, so I let them in. They’re waiting in your classroom.”

What?

“What?” It felt stupid, and it sounded stupid, but what else could he say?

“I left your students in your classroom?” She spoke slowly, as though to a particularly slow fourth grader.

“You can’t be serious. You just can’t. You left two underachievers alone in a science classroom. Do you have any idea what kind of damage they could do?” He was briefly dumbfounded. What the hell was she thinking? Oh, wait. She was thinking she could fuck him in the ass, figuratively speaking.

“Well gee, Tony… I guess you shouldn’t have left them unattended in a classroom. Not their fault they were on time and you weren’t.” Why did she hate him so much? He hadn’t ever dated her. He hadn’t even met her before arriving at the school, and she had immediately hated him. Everything he did was wrong, and every time she could, she made his life more difficult.

“Did I do something to you in another life, Hill?” His voice sounded whiny, even to him.

“Do you really want to stand around and chat just now? I do hope no school property gets damaged, Tony.” She smirked again on her way out.

He stalked past her into the building, and he swore he could hear her laughing after him. What the hell?

Thank goodness for outdated school security systems with no cameras. He flipped her off through the door, and pulled out his flask to take a direct swig. It was going to be a long morning. He’d kill those little bastards if they were up to no good.

He headed down to his classroom, which was, of course, all the way in the back of the school.

He paused outside the door to gather his wits, something he probably wasn’t helping with the whiskey on a mostly empty stomach. Then, he heard a sound. A moan. Oh god. One of them had broken something, or fallen off a table, or something else equally bad, and was in there dying.

He might end up in jail for this, but he was going to fucking kill Hill first. He was taking her down with him.

He flung the door open with force, hoping to scare them. He had no idea how much he was going to succeed.

Loki was sitting there behind Fandral, with his hand down the other boy’s pants.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Seriously? They were fucking in his classroom?

Blondie’s eyes flew open, and he immediately started trying to squirm out of Loki’s grasp. Loki, on the other hand, was completely casual, as though he’d been caught doing nothing out of the ordinary.

“What does it look like we’re doing, Mr. Stark? We’re waiting for you.” Loki grinned mischievously, the offer of more in his eyes.

“Cute, kids. Very cute.” Tony scowled at him. Little bastard.

Loki made a movement with his hand, but it was most definitely nothing close to stopping. “I hardly think that cute has anything to do with it.”

“Get your damned hand out of his pants. You have a test to take, since you couldn’t be bothered to show up for class.” Tony was trying not to think about what was happening when Fandral whimpered and thrust into Loki’s hand.

_Jesus, Tony. Don’t watch._

“Really, Professor. Nothing Fandral does on this test is going to get him out of his F. And if I don’t do it, I get a D, which is still passing.” Loki looked like he was going to yawn any minute.

That tweaked Tony. “Passing. Passing is just fine with you.”

“Isn’t that the point of school? Passing classes?” He continued right on with his ministrations.

Fandral, poor kid, was red from the roots of his hair to the tips of his toes. He was still trying to squirm away, but so weakly that it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it. Physically, he was way past caring if his teacher was watching him get off. Maybe on some level (one that no doubt horrified the kid) he was getting off on having gotten caught.

Loki was obviously getting off on it.

Oh, fuck it. Two could play that game.

“You could be pulling straight A’s, and you’re fine with almost failing. It’s no wonder you never even learned to give a decent handjob.” Tony put on his most unimpressed look, and crossed his arms over his chest, careful not to spill his coffee.

“Aww, is poor Mr. Stark jealous? Because I’ve got this whole other hand.” Loki waved his left hand in Tony’s general direction.

Tony snorted at him rather theatrically. “Did I not just mention that you suck at this? I’d be better off with my own left hand. And I’m a righty.”

“Fandral doesn’t seem to be complaining.” On the contrary, the kid was obviously about ready to blow. And Loki was slowing his hand, backing off every time he got close. Okay, so Tony was probably exaggerating a little bit on Loki’s lack of skill, but the kid needed to understand that he didn’t know everything.

“Please, kid. I got more impressive handjobs in college from drunken sorority girls.” Possibly true. He couldn’t remember a lot of those parties very well. Of course, none of those girls had been quite so damned pretty.

Loki frowned at him. “And what, praytell, am I doing wrong?”

Oooh, Tony had offended him. Excellent. It was about time he was the one who got to be a jackass. That might be the whiskey at 9AM talking, though. He took a long pull from his ‘coffee’. “Oh, now you want to learn? Never in class, but now?”

“Well if you’d teach interesting things like this in class, I’d pay attention. Are you backing out?” He was leaning forward, as if there wasn’t a whole human body between them.

Fandral let out a squeak.

Tony shrugged. “Ease up, for one. It’s a cock, not a baseball bat. It’s about finesse, not pressure.”

Loki frowned at him again, but Tony could see from the look on blondie’s face that the pressure had lessened. He squirmed in something other than shame.

Loki looked genuinely shocked. The little shit was actually surprised that someone knew more about sex than he did. Fucking sixteen year olds who thought they knew everything about sex. Tony could teach him things that would make his pretty little toes curl.

Tony grinned, and went to sit on the table right in front of them, where he had a perfect view of the goings on. He was so screwed. Drunk and watching students have sex at school. Oh well, if Hill was going to have his balls on a platter, he might as well get something else out of it.

He took another drink. “Now let’s talk about the fact that you do have a hand free. Why is that?”

“What?” Loki was confused. Jesus, this was the most fucking fun Tony had ever had in this building. Too bad teaching teenagers about sex was completely illegal. It did explain why his first dozen experiences with it in college had been distinctly lackluster, though.

“You,” he said again, “have a hand free. Do you think the male body has one erogenous zone?”

“Isn’t that sort of thing for girls?” Loki looked vaguely disgusted at the notion.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s why the best sex I’ve ever had was with a guy. Because women are easier to get turned on.”

Loki’s disgusted look suddenly switched to intrigued. “You’ve fucked a man?”

“And you haven’t.” It wasn’t a question, really. A quickie handjob in the classroom sure didn’t count.

Loki looked pointedly and resentfully at where his hand disappeared into Fandral’s pants.

Tony let his unimpressed face show again. “Yeah, I mean real sex, kid.”

“How would you know if I’ve had real sex?” Fandral squirmed again, whimpering. Tony raised an eyebrow at Loki. Loki eased up again.

“Why don’t you just shut the fuck up and learn something for a change?” He set his coffee cup down next to himself and waited.

Loki pouted. “Like what?”

“Put your left hand under his shirt. Run it up and down his chest. Pinch his nipples.” Tony was definitely not picturing himself in this situation. Nope.

Loki looked dubious for a moment, but then complied. Fandral arched into the hand and moaned loudly. “Oh… oh God Loki. Do it again.”

Tony smirked as he finished the last of his second cup of ‘coffee’.

Loki scowled, but complied. “Any other advice, Mr. Stark?”

Tony’s smirk grew so smug that he thought his mother’s old threat about his face freezing that way might take hold. Something simple. Something distinctly unkinky, but sure to please poor overwrought blondie. “Other hand into his pants, too.”

This time, Loki was quick to comply. “And?”

“Get a hand on his balls. Feel them. Squeeze a little.” Okay, maybe he was picturing himself in this situation. On which side, he wasn’t entirely sure. Either way, blondie sure wasn’t involved.

Loki’s eyes stayed on Tony’s as he complied. Fandral moaned and pushed into the hands. Loki’s stroking slowed to almost a stop, and the other boy whined loudly. “Loki!”

“And?” The word was becoming a challenge. How far would Tony tell Loki to go? Which of them exactly was giving a teenage boy a handjob now? Fuck, he needed more ~~booze~~ coffee.

“You know where his perineum is, or did you ignore that part of health class?”

Loki glared, but never broke eye contact. His hand moved deeper into the other boy’s pants.

“Find the spot right behind his balls with your thumb.”

“And?” Loki was starting to pant. Tony wasn’t sure he’d even been turned on at the start of this. He’d been tormenting poor Fandral, giving him a handjob that was almost certain to be discovered. Now, though, his hips were moving minutely against the other boy’s ass, seeking friction.

That was novel. Tony hadn’t ever had a student turned on by learning. “Push. Not hard, just push.”

Fandral threw his head back and yelled aloud for a long moment. Probably the most impressive orgasm the kid had ever had. Still, Loki’s eyes never left Tony.

After panting for a long moment to catch his breath, Fandral squeaked out, ‘Can I just make up the test some other time, Sir?”

“Sure thing, blondie. Study this time. Loki will help you.” Tony looked hard at Loki, who shrugged and nodded.

Fandral looked dubiously at Loki. Loki’s eyes never left Tony’s.

“Right, then. I’ll… I’ll just go. This never happened. There’s no way this ever happened.” Fandral grabbed his backpack and practically ran out of the classroom.

For a moment, they listened to Fandral’s retreating footsteps.

Then Loki grinned and ran a hand along the ridge of his cock through his pants. He stood and walked to Tony, standing between his slightly spread knees. “So, Mr. Stark. Do you give lessons in cocksucking, too?”

He dropped to his knees, and for the first time ever, looked like he wanted to learn something Tony had to teach him.


	2. for a D student

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the lovely comments and kudos on the first installation!
> 
> Important Point: Everyone needs to know that this is part of a collaboration, and has a sister fic by Plumadesatada, Coveted. You should read it, too!

It only took a few seconds to think this through. It was probably the liquor talking, but it seemed like the best idea ever.

“Okay.” Tony said nonchalantly.

The responding grin was amusing. He started to reach for Tony’s zipper, a triumphant look in his eyes. Little did the brat know that Tony had a surprise in store for him.

Tony put a hand over his fly. “But if you’re going to learn this, you’re going to learn a few other things, too.”

The grin widened. “Really, Mr. Stark? Well, you’re the teacher.”

Oh, if only he knew.

Tony grinned at him. “Yeah, I am. Of physics.”

“What?” The boy looked incredibly confused.

“You heard me.” Tony grinned at him, and fiddled with the button on his jeans. “You wanna learn how to blow, you promise me an A in physics.”

“Aren’t I supposed to be blowing you in exchange for an A?” Loki looked like his childhood fantasies were being wrecked by this conversation.

Tony snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re the one who wants this. I’ll teach you how to give the best blowjob you can imagine, and you’ll start doing your homework and showing up for tests. An A.”

“What if I can’t manage an A?” The kid was just straight up pouting, now.

Tony almost laughed. “Then I stop teaching.”

“Physics? Completely?” Loki looked smug, as though he already knew he could win this argument.

Tony pulled his zipper down slowly, and Loki’s eyes followed, as if themselves drawn down by Tony’s hands. “Cocksucking. And any other lessons you might require.”

The boy’s mouth opened in a soundless ‘oh’, and Tony was almost certain he’d won. Still, he needed confirmation. “Deal?”

Loki was already leaning in on his exposed boxer shorts, and he could feel the hot breath through the thin fabric. “Deal.” The word was whispered, but it was there.

“Well then,” Tony grinned down at the face hovering over his groin, “What say we get down to lessons? I should think you know where to start.”

The kid slowly reached forward and stuck his hands under the waistband of Tony’s boxers. Pulling the front down enough to set Tony’s cock free, he inched back a bit when he saw what he had to contend with. Funny. Kid probably hadn’t ever even tried to give head before. He just thought he was so _bad_ , giving a handjob in the middle of the classroom.

“Well?” Tony asked a little impatiently. “You gonna sit there and stare all day, or get to work?”

Loki licked his lips, and hesitantly moved forward. Where was the cocky ‘I know it all’ attitude now? Tony wasn’t going to say it had been sexy, but… it had been sexy. Dammit. This was just nervous teenage boy. It made him feel like he was doing, well, exactly what he was doing.

Then, Loki reached out and licked him. He flicked his eyes upward as though for confirmation that this was allowed. Tony put his hands behind himself and leaned back. The damage was done, now. Might as well get something out of ruining his career. Now he would have to go work for his fucking father. And be a registered sex offender. Sweet.

“Anticipation only goes so far here, Green Eyes. Lick the whole head. You’re gonna need to get it wet if you don’t want it sticking on the way in.” He tried to be objective now, and at least make an attempt to give what he’d promised. The amount of whiskey in him was going to prolong this. The fact that he was hard at all was amazing. Of course, he had a hot, snarky genius in front of him, about to suck his dick. It was one of the hottest things that had ever happened to him.

Tony Stark, textbook narcissist.

Loki took a long moment and a deep breath before complying. He stuck out that perfect pink tongue and swiped it all the way around the head of Tony’s shaft. Then he looked up for approval again.

“You really haven’t done this before?” Tony smirked at him.

“Well not all of us are old, Mr. Stark.” Loki frowned up at him, taking the question as a personal challenge. Then, he opened wide and took the head into his mouth.

Tony breathed deeply. “That’s me, ancient. And that’s good. A good start.”

Loki pulled his head off and licked his way around the cock, then swallowed the tip again.

“Fuck,” Tony said, pulling back suddenly.

Poor kid looked like someone took Christmas away. “Did I do it wrong? I can get it, I’m sure-”

“Condom, Loki. Need a condom.” Tony pulled his wallet out of his jeans pocket, hoping his trusty old college days were going to serve him here.

Loki looked expectantly at the wallet, and bit his lip nervously. “It’s okay. I’m sure-”

“No,” Tony said firmly, pulling a condom out. “It’s never okay, and you’re never sure. That’s every fucking lesson you really need. Condom. Always condom.”

Loki nodded mutely as Tony tore the packet open and pulled out the latex disk. He handed it to Loki, who looked nonplussed.

“You need to know how to put a condom on, Sunshine. Careful, and the right way.” Tony pointed out the right side and the wrong side. Well hell, he may feel like a pervert the next day (or already) but if he could keep the kid from getting an STD, at least he’d served a purpose.

Loki carefully rolled the latex on, and then licked the head again. He made a face. “Plastic.”

“Learn to deal with it. Now let’s try this again.” Tony ran his hands through that raven colored hair, but ultimately decided to try not to hold the kid’s head at all. He felt dirty enough. And it already had him hard enough to blow.

Loki started quickly this time, as though concerned that Tony would find another reason not to continue. He swirled his tongue around the head a few times, and then started to push his way down the length.

“Need to keep breathing.” Tony was struggling to keep his hands to himself. He put all of his body weight on them, hoping that it would make him notice if he instinctively went for the grab. “You’re not doing anyone any good if you pass out.”

Loki nodded around his cock, and gave a little ‘mmm’ in answer, and it was fucking good.

Tony’s breath caught. “Yeah, that’s good.”

The kid looked up at him questioningly.

“The vibration. It’s good.” Tony grabbed the edge of the desk with his hands. Not moving them seemed to be getting harder and harder.

“Mmm?” The little shit was testing him.

Tony pushed up a bit with his hips.

“Mmph!” Loki swallowed convulsively around Tony’s cock at the movement, and fuck that was good.

“Yeah, like that. That’s pretty good, for a D student.” Tony was just taunting him, now. There was no call for that. Tony had been the one who hadn’t turned and walked away the second he saw what was going on in his classroom. Any decent teacher would have walked away. Or stopped them. Something other than sitting down and giving pointers, and then offering to give sex lessons in exchange for showing up to class.

He could just imagine the gleeful look on Hill’s face as she called the police.

“Mmmphmm?” The kid wanted his attention, but wasn’t willing to take his mouth off Tony’s dick. Well that was dedication. And fucking hot.

He looked down at the beautiful little brat sucking on him. It was one of those things that most teachers never even thought about. The pretty kid, the snarky, bratty, flirty kid who obviously wanted that kind of attention. The whole student-teacher relationship thing was a teenaged student fantasy, not an adult teacher one – unless the teacher had serious issues. And yet, there he was.

Tony nodded encouragement, reaching out and gently repositioning the boy’s head to give better access and less of a neck cramp. “Can you hold your breath?”

Loki nodded swiftly, and took a deep breath.

Slipping his fingers softly into that silken black hair, he eased Loki’s head further and further down on his cock. “Keep holding it. You try to breathe, you’ll just gag.”

The boy started to try to nod, then thought better of it, and just followed Tony’s guiding hand. After a few seconds, Tony pulled his head up, and the boy opened his mouth and gasped for breath. Tony let his hair go and just allowed the boy to breathe for a while.

Tony honestly hadn’t ever thought about a student this way before, let alone acted on it.

The second this one had opened his mouth, though, Tony’s brain had gone to a dirty place. He’d shown up on his first day wearing black eyeliner and sucking on a lollipop. When Tony had called attendance, he’d responded with, ‘only for _you_ , Mr. Stark…’ Tony should have known, then, that he was in trouble. He’d ignored it and acted like his cock hadn’t reacted to that low, smooth, sexy voice.

How did a sixteen year old even have a sexy voice?

“Sorry. I can do it.” Loki looked a little chagrined at how long he’d needed to catch his breath.

Tony smiled. Had he ever been so eager? “You’re doing fine. It takes time and lots of practice.”

Green eyes flipped up to meet his. “And if I get an A, you’ll… let me practice?”

“You know you could practice on anyone, right?” Tony continued smiling at him, but there was nothing happy in his head at that thought. He wanted those lips wrapped around his cock. He sure wasn’t teaching Loki how to suck cock for Fandral’s sake.

That damned knowing look reappeared in too-old-for-sixteen eyes. “I could. But I’d rather learn from the best.”

Tony smirked. “How do you know I’m the best? You kids have my name written on the wall in the bathroom?”

Loki scowled at that. “Have you been sucking their cocks, so they’d know to write you name up there?”

“Good point. I should be the one writing your name in there.” Tony couldn’t seem to stop running his hands through that glossy soft black hair. There was something wrong with him.

Loki’s scowl turned into his trademark smirk. “So you’re enjoying yourself.”

Tony couldn’t help a laugh. “I’m enjoying myself better when you’re not talking. Lips. Cock.” He pointed at each in turn. “Now.”

That damned bratty smirk again. Loki exaggeratedly leaned down and kissed the head of Tony’s cock, and then proceeded to pepper little closed-mouth kissed all over it.

“Not bad. Points for originality-ish. Not gonna get anybody but your little blond buddy off, though. Suck the head.” Loki pulled the head of Tony’s cock into his mouth and sucked – hard. Tony actually moaned aloud this time. “Ahhh…. Yeah, that’s good.”

Taking the encouragement to heart, and combining it with the rest of the lesson, Loki moved to swallow as much of Tony’s cock as he could without gagging, and then sucked hard.

“Oh, fuck. Hmmmph…. Yeah, good. Do it again, slower.” Those bright green eyes were watching the reactions cross his face, and for once, paying attention to Tony and not a notebook in which he was definitely not taking notes. He was certainly taking mental notes right then. This worked, that didn’t, the other thing made Tony moan and thrust forward.

Once again, this time without prompting, he took a deep breath and then pushed as far down as he could go. He swallowed and swallowed until he had all but an inch or so in, and he looked downright frustrated.

Tony ran a finger down his cheek. “I told you, practice.”

Loki pulled up and breathed deeply for a few seconds, wheezing a bit and giving Tony a dubious look. “Really? Or are you just fucking with me, and it’s impossible to swallow the whole damned thing? It hit the back of my throat, where else is there to go?”

Tony grinned. “You kidding? It’s not even all the way up. Too much whiskey in me for that. You could take it all.”

“Whiske- You’re drunk! Is that why you’re letting me do this? Are you going to change your mind tomorrow?” The kid was pouting. Tony refused to think of it as adorable. Adorable kid sucking his cock made Tony a pedophile, or something.

Tony smiled, and took a firmer grip on Loki’s hair. “I didn’t walk out right after I walked in because of the whiskey. But I’ve never fucked anyone I didn’t mean to because of booze.” It was technically true. On the occasions he’d gotten blackout drunk in college, he’d meant to find and sleep with anyone he possibly could. And given some of the places and situations he’d woken up in, he’d succeeded.

“So you want to fuck me?” Loki stuck his lower lip out, and it made him look even younger.

Tony frowned at that. “First, tuck that lip in. Looking younger than you are is not what either of us wants from you right now.” Loki immediately complied, cringing. “Second, anyone willing to fuck a teenage boy wants to fuck you. And I do, too.”

The smirk was back. “So you don’t fuck other students.”

“Do I look like I’m in prison to you?” Tony was losing patience with the lack of cocksucking. He remembered being a teenager and wanting compliments, but he fucking wanted those lips back around his cock.

“Do I look like I’m about to call the cops?” Loki’s hands were kneading his thighs, and it was pretty good. Still not sucking, though.

“Honestly, right now, I don’t give a damn if you do. First, though, you’re gonna finish what you’ve started. Second cardinal rule of sex.” Tony tugged on his head a bit, trying to guide him back down.

“So, always a condom and always finish what you start?” Loki looked dubious, and he wasn’t moving his damned head.

Tony sighed. “They’re pretty important rules. If you can manage those, you’ll get your share of cock.”

“I only want the one.” Loki accepted the prodding suddenly, and took half of Tony’s cock into his mouth in one go.

Tony, meanwhile, was busy being stunned by what he’d said. Maybe he just meant one at a time. _Oh, please, don’t let the teenager think he’s in love with me._ Then, he felt the distracting scrape of teeth on his cock, and when he looked down sharply, he found Loki looking up at him with an eyebrow raised.

He didn’t even have to say what he was thinking out loud. _Are you going to pay attention to the mouth on your cock, or stare off into space?_

When he was satisfied that he had Tony’s attention, he gave a hard suck. Well he could have just done that to get the attention, dammit. Then the kid proved that he really could learn, and took one of his hands off Tony’s thigh to wriggle it into his boxer shorts.

He watched Tony’s face carefully as he fondled balls, and then reached behind to press softly on Tony’s prostate through his perineum. Tony almost missed the deep intake of breath, masked by his own, but then suddenly Loki’s head was pressing all the way into his pubic hair, and that mouth was sucking for all it was worth.

Normally, with that much alcohol in his system, it would take hours to drive Tony over the edge. This time, though? Not so much.

Loki almost made it all the way down, and his throat started constricting. He tried hard not to breathe, but instinct was too ingrained for the novice cocksucker, and he gagged. And the sensation set Tony off. He dropped his hands to grip the sides of the desk and thrust up into Loki’s mouth.

“Fuck! Oh- hmmm…ahh, fu….” Nonsense trailed out of Tony’s mouth as he let go, but the litany running through his head was quite a different matter. _Don’t force the kid’s mouth down on your cock, don’t force the kid’s mouth down on your cock, don’t…_

He considered it a miracle that he succeeded in that, given the booze interacting with his already poor inhibitions. But he didn’t want to put Loki off sucking cock altogether. He might not offer to do it again. Call Tony avaricious, but he wanted the A and the blowjobs.

With some effort, he forced his hips down and away from the kid, who was staring at Tony’s cock and still trying to control his breathing. Then he licked his cherry red lips and looked up into Tony’s face. “I don’t suppose your lessons extend to what to do when receiving?”

This kid was going to fucking end him.


	3. reciprocation

Reciprocation. It wasn’t something Tony had an issue with. It wasn’t like it was somehow more appropriate to have a student sucking your cock than the other way around. Oddly enough, he’d actually always enjoyed doing it; he sure enjoyed it a lot more than having a cock in any other orifice.

He rolled the idea over in his head for a minute. “Just two problems with that.”

The kid frowned at him, probably starting to feel ill-used. “And those would be…?”

Tony smiled and held up two fingers. “One, you still haven’t taken your test.” He ticked off one finger and went to the other. “Two, no more condoms.”

At least the second one was logic that couldn’t be argued. Loki looked annoyed anyway, and Tony didn’t really blame him. Two out of three people had gotten off in the classroom this morning, and Loki was the odd man left unsatisfied.

“So,” Tony smiled at him again, “you do your test right now.”

“You’re kidding. With this?” Loki gestured to his pants, straining cock barely contained inside.

“Definitely. And if it’s still there when you’re done… with an A… we’ll see if we can’t find a temporary stopgap measure.”

“A temporary…” Loki quirked an eyebrow. “More handjob pointers, Mr. Stark?”

“A man can never be too good at that.” Tony said seriously, as he pulled his case up to the desk. He flipped it open and found a copy of the test. “Now seriously, if this takes you more than ten minutes or you get anything but an A, you’re not the man I think you are.”

Loki looked taken aback by the statement. Tony didn’t know what to make of that. The kid snatched the test out of his hand, though, and fucking went to town on it. That was weird. Surely the promise of a handjob wasn’t that compelling.

Tony had to force himself not to go check if the nurse’s office was kept unlocked. They kept condoms in there… _fucked up, Stark_. But they did! Oh hell, it was probably locked anyway. Tony focused on getting rid of his condom, and then thinking better of leaving it in the classroom trash, he wrapped it in extra paper toweling to take it somewhere else. Jesus, he was even thinking like a criminal now.

True to Tony’s expectations, Loki handed the test back eight minutes later. His handwriting was a little messier than usual, but his work was as spot-on as ever. The kid was a damned genius, and he was ruining his chance to get into a good college with these ridiculous grades. Tony wondered if sex could be used as carrot for the rest of his grades, too.

Tony checked them off, and gave him back his A paper. “Well there ya go, your first A.”

Loki turned in his chair expectantly, but Tony pushed him back face-forward and knelt behind. Really, Stark? Behind? Like if he can’t see you, you’re not really jerking off a sixteen year old boy? Like being behind him doesn’t just give you other ideas anyway?

Tony tried to tune out his own brain and focus on the task at hand. More whiskey would be good for the whole ‘guilt and shame’ thing, but he doubted that Loki would be thrilled that someone needed booze to be happy about touching him. Fuck, that sounded bad even to Tony, and he was the one who wanted to do it. Instead, he focused on why he was doing it. Not the deal, or the A on the test; those were great, but not sexy.

So why was he doing it?

That sweet sexy voice that taunted him at every turn. _Yes, Mr. Stark; No, Mr. Stark; Why ever not, Mr. Stark?_ Those beautiful lips that had just finished sucking him, the way they were always doing _something; p_ encil chewing, lollipop licking, finger biting, and various other lip related things had spent the school year squirming their way into Tony’s subconscious. The way he’d taken direction so well, and tried so hard to swallow Tony all the way down. That sweet little ass that Tony was sure no one had ever fucked before. The fact that Tony was pretty sure Loki wanted him to fuck him.

As he focused on those things, he reached around and unzipped Loki’s jeans, slipping them open so that he could inspect the… lack of underwear. Loki was giving him one of those sexy little smirks that said ‘surprised you, didn’t I?’ Brat. He slipped his hand down and around the cock he’d uncovered. _Not bad_ , he thought to himself. _Not bad at all. I could suck that. Will definitely suck that, provided he doesn’t go home and call the cops before I have the chance. Jesus, should anyone ever put themselves in a position to think that? No!_

Shaking his head, he wrapped his hand softly around it and stroked, almost immediately eliciting a moan from Loki as the boy arched up into him.

Loki whimpered, “Oh Gods, this is going to be so embarrassing.”

He tried not to show amusement. He’d felt the same way, once, not all that long ago. This was his chance to show a little empathy. “It’s okay, Loki. Everyone else has already gotten theirs. Your own time.”

The tension in Loki’s back lessened, and Tony ran his hand down it in a comforting gesture. Then, he slipped his hand into the back of Loki’s jeans, and was treated with a gasp.

“You good?” He questioned, trying to ascertain Loki’s openness to his ministrations before going too far.

“Y-you didn’t tell me to do this to Fandral.” Tony couldn’t tell what emotion was behind that quaver, so he paused. “No, please, do it!” Well, that was a definitive answer.

He continued to slide his left hand slowly down the back of Loki’s pants. They were both suddenly panting like they’d run a marathon. Loki moved his body up to allow better access, and pressed toward Tony’s hand. Tony was happy to oblige. Reaching his goal, he allowed a single finger to rub slowly across Loki’s hole. At the same time, he slowed his right hand. He didn’t want the boy to go too soon and feel bad about it, he reasoned with himself. It had nothing to do with wanting the time to get a finger in him.

“Mr. Stark! Please!” Loki sounded utterly wrecked.

Tony wasn’t sure if he liked or hated ‘Mr. Stark’ in a sexual sense. Loki’s voice could make anything sexy, though. Wanting to oblige, he wondered which hand was driving Loki more crazy. Oh, to hell with it. He went all in with both. When he sped his strokes, Loki panted and moaned in time with the right hand’s movement. When he pressed his middle finger into Loki, he was rewarded with a high pitched whine and the tightest damned ass he’d ever lain hands on. Within seconds of his pressing the finger into that tight little ass, Loki exploded.

“AhhhhhmmMMr. Stark!” Okay, the kid coming while yelling ‘Mr. Stark’ was a point in its favor. Fuck. Tony pressed the finger in his ass hard as Loki rode out his orgasm, wanting to associate the feeling with pleasure. It made him moan again, and press back. He let his head fall limply onto Tony’s shoulder and panted for a few minutes. “If I brought you make up work tomorrow, would it count for my grade?”

Tony almost laughed. “I am not coming here tomorrow. Not even for sex. I’m sleeping in, and then reading.”

“So you admit that you’re getting something out of this?” Loki turned to look into his eyes, obviously looking for reassurance.

Tony slipped his finger out of Loki and ran his whole hand over that fine ass. “I would think the answer to that was obvious.”

“Something other than my improved grades?” Jesus, what part of fine ass was he not getting? Probably the part where Tony hadn’t said it out loud.

So Tony leaned in, and for some reason, he swallowed all the obnoxious jokes that were right on the tip of his tongue. “Yeah.” He brushed their cheeks together in an oddly possessive move, albeit less weird than kissing him would have been. “I’m getting something out of this other than your grade.”

Loki got a calculating look on his face that Tony had felt on himself one too many times. He was angling for something, and he thought he had a logical reason that he should get it. “I could always bring it to you.”

Tony could help his shock at that notion. “You want to come to my house?”

Loki shrugged. “It would make things easier. Less likely Hill or the janitor walk in and find one of us with his pants down, literally and metaphorically.”

Well that was an obvious point that Tony should have thought of first. He wasn’t shaping up to be much of a criminal. Loki, on the other hand… “It’s pretty far from here. Outside town.”

“Even better. More privacy so no one wonders why you have a teenage boy visiting.” Loki smiled cockily.

Jesus. The kid had an answer for everything, didn’t he? It was true, though. Tony didn’t have any nosy neighbors, and getting this whole sordid situation far, far away from Hill and school seemed like a good plan. “And won’t having my address give you something to hold over me?”

“I could have gotten it myself by following you home from school.” He shrugged, his answer coming a little too fast.

“You little shit. You already know where I live, don’t you?” Tony wasn’t sure how to process this information. Was the whole thing a setup? A plan to ruin Tony’s career?

Loki had the good grace to blush. “I was curious. You drive a pretty nice car for a high school teacher, it wasn’t exactly hard to follow. Besides, I’m a teenager, aren’t we supposed to do weird, hormone driven things?”

“And how long have you been planning this little scene?” Tony was not letting this go without an explanation.

Loki blushed some more. “Since Fandral and I were flipping the… he said we’d probably have to make up the test. Something about how it would ruin spring break, and I thought- Well, it seemed like a good way to get you alone.”

The kid was blushing bright red, and it was kind of cute. Little bastard had put a lot of effort toward trying to get into Tony’s pants. “The scene with blondie was rehearsed?”

“Not exactly. It was a surprise to him, anyway.” Loki smirked a little at that, obviously amused with himself.

“But you’d been planning it. I guess this didn’t go down quite how you expected, did it?” Tony amused himself with the picture of Loki’s face when Tony had demanded he be given something for his tutelage instead of the other way around.

Loki grinned outright at that. “Not exactly.” He licked his lips, “but just as well as I’d hoped.”

“Is that right?” Tony leaned in to his personal space. Fuck, this was so far past not okay that he was pretty sure he’d reached eleven when he wasn’t looking. He was going to be the master of not okay soon.

“Considering the fact that you haven’t even… I mean, I didn’t…” That blush was fucking adorable. In a sexy way, not an embarrassed teenager way.

It was a good thing Tony didn’t believe in hell, or he’d be headed there for sure. “I didn’t even bend you over my desk and fuck you? Was that the plan?”

Loki couldn’t even answer in words, he just nodded.

“You think your ass would be worth an A in physics?” Tony whispered questioningly in his ear.

Loki got a little of his composure back and grinned at Tony. “I’m sure it would. But it’ll be hard to find out if I don’t bring my homework over for you to look at, won’t it?”

“Well you’d better get that fine ass to work tonight, huh? I expect A work, Loki. And no less than a week worth of assignments every time. You’ve got eight weeks to catch up on, don’t you?” Tony stood and grabbed his things.

Loki nodded, still grinning. “I guess I’ll be seeing a lot of you over break, Mr. Stark.”

“Well apparently you know where to find me.” And with that, Tony left.

He took the evidence of sex and booze with him, and got rid of them as soon as he got home. It wasn’t really going to save his ass if Loki told someone, but at least he wouldn’t be outed accidentally by carelessness.

He put his briefcase on the kitchen table, and took his jacket off.

Then he sat and stared at his hands for half an hour. He had actually had sex with a student. They were planning to have more sex in the future. If anyone learned about it, his life as he knew it would be over. His father would probably take him back, but that was the last thing Tony wanted. He’d made his own life, and he liked it. But now he’d made his own bed, and if he had to, he’d lie in it.

He wasn’t even sure he believed he should get away with it. He was taking sexual advantage of a sixteen year old. Sure, the kid wanted it, had even tried to manipulate Tony into it; but was he old enough to know what he really wanted? Weren’t there things Tony had done at sixteen that he regretted? His falling out with his father came to mind, but Tony still put all blame for that on a third party. He still didn’t want to think about that, even to himself. He didn’t want to… He shuddered. Was that what he was? Some old guy creeping on someone else’s son? And wouldn’t Loki’s father react the same way his own had?

_You must have been flirting with him, Tony. He wouldn’t have just made that up. You shouldn’t start things you aren’t prepared to follow through on._

The thought was almost enough to put the brakes on right away, but then he remembered that Loki had been the one planning seduction. Tony never would have pressed it; he wouldn’t have even thought of it if not for the way Loki had been fucking flirting with him all year…

Was this it? Had he turned into Obi? Telling himself that it was the kid’s fault, when he was supposed to be the responsible adult who didn’t try to fuck the teenage children of their business associates? Jesus fuck, what was wrong with him?

 _Little late to try to resummon your willpower now, isn’t it?_ He thought bitterly to himself. _Should have thought about all this before letting a sixteen year old suck your cock. This ship has sailed._

Standing suddenly, he went to the bar and started to pour himself another whiskey. Then he thought better of it, and just took the bottle to his bedroom with him. Maybe if he got blackout drunk, he’d miss the knock at his door the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have one more chapter finished, so frostiron month won't interfere with Monday's installation. After that... I'll try to keep on a schedule, but I can't make any promises.


	4. a househusband

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, front-loaded feels. Next chapter, I expect none at all, just shameless smut.
> 
> If you want a story, you should read my Pluma's story, [Coveted](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1848754/chapters/3976261). It features a 13 year old Tony, and some of the most amazing characterizations I've ever read.

It seemed that the gods, if such existed, were not with him. He was only half conscious when he heard the knock on his door. No one ever knocked on his door on Sunday morning.

It was Sunday morning, wasn’t it?

He pulled his head up, almost smacking the empty bottle next to him, and looked at the clock. One PM. Okay, so Sunday afternoon. People still didn’t visit him on Sunday afternoon. His closest neighbor was like half a mile away, and most of the people who lived this far from town weren’t any more social than he was.

So who… Empty whiskey bottle. Self-destructive spiral even more out of control than usual. Horrible guilt. Shit. He had sex with a student. A student who was probably currently at his door looking for more sex, the gorgeous little bastard.

Tony pulled himself out of bed and stumbled downstairs. Given the poison green sports car he glimpsed in his driveway on the way to the door, there was no way it could be anyone else, was there? Now he was really glad he lived in the middle of nowhere. If that car wasn’t a neon sign that screamed ‘Look, Loki is here!’ he didn’t know what was. Tony had never been so grateful for the surrounding woods and relative isolation of his home, and he was pretty regularly grateful for those things.

There was another knock at the door. It was calm, measured, and not what Tony would have expected from the exuberant teen on his second… or third, or who knew what number… knock.

He swung the door open to find his favorite D student leaning lazily in the doorjamb, waiting with what appeared to be a considerable amount of patience.

He curled up his nose when he caught sight of Tony, though. “Really, Mr. Stark?”

Tony looked at himself. He was still wearing yesterday’s clothes, rumpled from sleep. The empty whiskey bottle was clutched in his hand like a security blanket. Crap. If he’d wanted to pass himself off as a grownup who had made a mistake and genuinely wanted to make amends, showing up at the door like that had been a stupid first move.

He sighed. “Right. Um… why don’t you come in?”

“Thank you.” Loki looked around a second before continuing, “I’ll go make some coffee, and you can… go do whatever it is you do when you wake up hung over at one on a Sunday.”

“What if I said I was on my way to church?” Tony frowned at him. Stranger things had happened, hadn’t they?

“Why, are they giving away free whiskey?” Loki had obviously spotted the kitchen door, and headed off. Little shit.

Well, what the hell? What was the worst thing that could happen? The kid wasn’t going to steal his coffee maker or something. He headed upstairs, rushed through a shower and shave, and then dressed in… well, jeans and a t-shirt. What, was he going to wear a suit?

When he got back downstairs, he smelled not only coffee, but... toast? Mmm… his stomach could do with some toast. He went into the kitchen, a little more humble than he’d expected to be in this particular meeting. Loki was the one who had opened with the adult actions, and it put Tony at a disadvantage.

On his kitchen table, five pages of paper were neatly laid out for him. Five days of physics homework. Fuck. Loki was not messing around. Tony looked up to find Loki headed for the table, balancing two mugs of coffee and a plate of lightly buttered toast. He slipped one coffee and the toast across the table to Tony, and sat down to quietly drink his own mug.

“Thanks.” What could he do? Tony sat down and looked at the homework. It was perfect. “Why the hell don’t you do this every day?” He gestured at the homework.

Loki curled up his nose again. “Why would I? What do I usually get for doing homework? Nothing worth working for.”

“Physics for sex is as far as you go? What are you gonna do in college?” Tony wasn’t playing an angle, he actually wanted to know. He took a drink of the coffee and had to look down at the mug in surprise. Loki knew how to make a damned good cup of coffee.

Loki shrugged. “Party?” At Tony’s dubious look, he sighed. “Fine, I’m going to do better there, okay? Once I don’t have fucking Odin breathing down my neck all the time.”

“And the long-term goals? Life plan?” Tony’s face must have registered his amusement, because Loki didn’t get offended.

He grinned. “I’m going to get married and be a househusband, of course.”

“Well, you make good coffee, the staple skill of an effective househusband,” Tony said as he took another drink. He thought hard about it for a minute and shrugged. “Hell, Loki, if that’s actually what you want to do with your life, good for you.”

“So you can see why I need to be particularly impressive at a few other things. Wouldn’t want my future husband getting bored with me.” Loki grinned cockily, finally having found a way to introduce his preferred subject.

Tony put his coffee down and looked at the homework. He wasn’t going to give it away for free, after all. “I sincerely doubt you’ve ever bored anyone in your life, Loki. I don’t think you could if you tried.” He grabbed the red pencil he used to grade… where had that come from? Had the little shit put a pencil out for him? “Did you put this here?”

“Thought you might need it.” Loki sat back and drank his coffee. “I’d check number four on the first page, and thirteen on the third. But I think you knew that, since you intended us to get them wrong.”

Cocky little bastard. He was exactly right. Tony tried not to think of the idea of Loki-as-househusband as a waste. It was a perfectly valid life choice, and it wasn’t Tony’s to make. Lots of people thought him teaching high school was a waste, so he really had no room to make judgements. Besides, it was pretty easy to picture Loki as a happy homemaker. How odd. As long as Loki was happy, who was he to question the goal?

It didn’t take long to check the work; it was as impeccable as Tony had expected. “You know, it’s a fucking tragedy that you don’t care about school. You could have done really well in it.”

Loki’s grin disappeared. “Yeah, disappointed with my effort, smarter than this, wasted youth, if only I tried harder… Whatever.”

Now this was familiar territory. Every time Tony had ever done anything wrong, he’d gotten one of those speeches. He was _not_ going to give one. “Yeah, don’t care about any of that. I just think that smart people are sexy.”

Loki raised an eyebrow.

Tony marked the papers and stacked them back up. “You disagree? Why are you here instead of with your little friend?”

“Oh.” Loki finally looked like he was listening. “You’re more experienced? I’m not into blond hair?”

“You’re a teenager, you’re into what you can get. But you pursued this. All year, you’ve-” Dammit, there he was, back in that trap. He needed stop this and accept that Loki hadn’t actually been flirting.

“You…” Loki’s eyes went a little wide. “You noticed.”

“Wait, what?” Tony’s chest constricted a bit.

“That I’ve been flirting with you all year. You never acted like you noticed! You always treated me like everyone else!” Loki looked offended. Meanwhile, Tony slumped back in his chair.

“Do you have any idea what- No, of course you don’t, why would you?” Tony rubbed his eyes. It hadn’t been his imagination. He wasn’t Stane.

Loki’s voice sounded more curious than offended. “Any idea what?”

“The plan this morning was to tell you that this is a terrible idea. That I’m not going to sleep with you, ever.” When Tony took his hands from his eyes, Loki looked stricken.

His voice came out as a whisper this time. “Why?”

Well, getting drunk hadn’t done any good. Pretending he could ignore it hadn’t done any good. And he sure as hell didn’t want to spend the rest of his life wondering… “When I was your age, one of my father’s business associates - one of his closest friends - started hitting on me.”

Loki frowned, turning his nose up at the thought, but he waited for Tony to continue instead of interjecting.

“I was nervous about asking him to stop. I was afraid I was imagining it. Then when I was eighteen he cornered me at a party, shoved me against a wall and groped me.” Tony felt a little ill at the memory. He still didn’t like champagne. It always refreshed the memory of feeling helpless and manhandled, the sickening sweet smell of grapes on Obadiah’s breath as he had shoved his hand into Tony’s pants. “I had to knee him in the groin to get away. It only worked because he was drunk. When I told my father, he basically told me I’d been asking for it.”

“My god, Mr. Stark. I had no idea.” Loki sounded positively traumatized on his behalf.

Tony made the effort to look at him. “So now I’m the old guy hitting on a teenager, trying to-”

“But I started it! I’ve been flirting with you like crazy since the day we met!” Loki protested vigorously. “And don’t fucking tell me I don’t know what I want. The only reason this is a big deal is because you’re my teacher. Lots of kids date older guys.”

“Date?” It was Tony’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“Date, screw, have one night stands with, whatever. The point is that the legal age of consent in this state – in almost all of them, in fact – is sixteen. The state says I’m old enough to decide for myself, why do you think you know better?” Jesus Christ, he should become a lawyer.

“I’m not saying that.” How could he explain? It had made so much sense in his head.

“No, you’re comparing yourself to a man who was probably twenty years older than you are now, who wouldn’t take no for an answer. You’re not even thirty yet, and you haven’t figured out how to take yes for an answer!” Wow. Loki needed to take a serious look at law school. Wait, was Tony judging his househusband dream again? Tony was distracted from this train of thought when Loki came over and sat in his lap.

“What are you-” Tony started to try to ask, but Loki cut him off with a finger on his lips.

“I’m the one who hasn’t taken no for an answer, Mr. Stark. You’d probably be within your rights to have me suspended.” He pressed his whole body down, and wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck. “I do hope you won’t, though. There’s so much I could learn from you. You know, about Physics.”

“I never would have had you suspended. I definitely couldn’t, now that we’re having sex. And I think what you’re really looking for is a Biology lesson.” He’d have liked to say that he tried not to reciprocate, but that would have been a filthy lie. He pressed up into Loki’s hips, mindlessly seeking stimulation.

Loki started rocking slowly back and forth on Tony’s lap. “Yes, _please_. So we are having sex? I’d hate to think I did all this work for nothing.”

“Your Physics homework?” Tony couldn’t help but be a little offended.

Loki, on the other hand, laughed. “No, the yearlong attempt to get into your pants. Gods, I’ve been dreaming of this since the first day of school. If I’d known all I had to do was my homework, I’d have done it from the start.” Then he leaned down and pressed his lips against Tony’s.

Kissing. They were kissing. That was happening. In his kitchen. _Pull yourself together, Tony!_ His brain screamed. _Fuck him or don’t, but don’t just sit there like an idiot and wait for someone else to decide!_

Tony slipped his hand up into Loki’s hair, and pulled their lips apart. Loki made an annoyed noise in his throat, but allowed himself to be removed. He continued to rock himself into Tony’s groin. That, Tony allowed. Actually, he was pretty sure he was encouraging that.

“It’d be a shame to let those future househusband skills of yours go to waste, there, Jailbait.” Tony reached over and grabbed a piece of toast. If he was going to spend the afternoon having sex, carbs were a good idea.

“As long as you appreciate my effort, then my skills were well used.” Tony groaned at a particularly forceful grind as he was chewing on the bread, and Loki cracked that mischievous grin at him again. “And you haven’t even tried my soufflé yet.”

“If it’s as well thought out as the rest of you, I’m sure it’s too fucking amazing for its own damned good.” He had to stop this random frottage, or they were just going to mess up their clothes. He held up his nearly empty mug. “More coffee?”

Loki rolled his eyes, but slowly slipped out of his lap to retrieve the coffee anyway. Meanwhile, the sight of that sweet ass sashaying across his kitchen was enough to do things to Tony. He was so damned lucky this had turned out the way it had.

So far.

“I give, then.” Tony said absently, chewing on his second piece of toast. Loki looked back at him questioningly as he doctored the coffee with cream and sugar. How did he know how much Tony liked? “You’re gonna make some guy a fine househusband someday. I’m already jealous.”

Loki just gave him one of those self-satisfied Sphinx looks, and came back with the full mug of coffee, handing it to Tony. Then he slid Tony’s legs apart and slipped to the floor between them. “Let’s see if I’ve retained anything from yesterday’s lesson, hmm?”

Jesus. He was just going to slide down and suck Tony’s cock in the middle of the kitchen, while he ate his toast? Um, yes. Tony really was getting jealous of the asshole who got a husband like this.

He ran his hands up Tony’s jeans-clad legs. When his fingers reached the zipper, he leaned in and opened the button with his teeth, and then pulled the zipper down the same way. How was this the second blowjob he’d ever given?

Tony put his coffee mug down. “Learned a few things since yesterday, Green Eyes?”

Loki smiled. “Good?” When Tony just smirked in response, he leaned in and licked Tony’s erection through the silk of his boxer shorts. “I talked to a friend. She gave me some pointers.”

“Telling your friends that your little campaign has succeeded?” Yep, Tony could see his teaching career circling the drain in those gorgeous green eyes. With _that_ tongue so close to his cock, he just couldn’t make himself care.

He didn’t expect Loki’s response to be laughter. “Not a chance. Too likely you’d get fired. I just told her I was planning on getting some… experience.”

“You’re trying to save my career?” Tony couldn’t help being a little surprised and dubious.

Loki rolled his eyes. “I’m not being philanthropic or anything. I want you around so I can keep getting a piece of this.” He licked Tony’s cock through the fabric again, then pulled the silk down.

Just as Tony opened his mouth, Loki reached into a back pocket and pulled out a red foil packet, holding it up for Tony’s inspection. “Strawberry, huh? Knew you were a smart bastard, but that’s fast work. Where the hell does an underage person get flavored condoms?”

“Did I mention that I was discussing cocksucking with a friend? I told her that latex tastes disgusting. She said… She said I was lucky you were a good guy, and gave me these.” Loki blushed at the admission, and busied himself putting the condom on.

“Good friend. She give you any pointers on how to take the whole thing?” Tony swallowed the last bite of toast in a rush, and followed it with the last of the coffee. He knew that he wasn’t going to get another chance to think about food for a while.

Loki chuckled nastily. “With her boyfriend, I doubt it’s an issue.”

And then he took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and swallowed Tony’s cock whole. He got almost all the way down, and Tony gasped at the sudden pressure of it. Loki gave a hard suck, and Tony knew he was in trouble. Not only was Loki enthusiastic about what he was doing, he learned fast. He looked up at Tony with those hypnotic green eyes, and hummed inquisitively. It was all Tony could do to nod.

Loki got a wicked little look in his eyes. He tapped Tony’s ass on both sides, indicating for him to move up, and used the movement to finish stripping Tony’s jeans and boxers off, throwing them across the kitchen floor. All this, and barely a hesitation in his ministrations on Tony’s cock. Christ, he was gonna be a pro.

He ran his hands over Tony’s balls, and slipped a finger up to run softly back and forth along his perineum. At the end of one such caress, he slowly inched further toward Tony’s ass. He sucked hard, and then pulled up to hold just the tip in his mouth, and looked at Tony questioningly.

Tony nodded again, and Loki dove back down as far as he could on Tony’s cock, while the questing finger hesitantly dipped into Tony’s ass.

“Don’t wait. Get permission, do. Hesitation means that either you don’t really want to do it, or you don’t know what you’re doing.” Again, if Loki was here to learn, Tony ought to tell him something. Also, Tony just wanted him to fucking do it. That was a bit odd. He’d never much been into things going in his ass, but he wanted this.

He decided not to overanalyze it, particularly when Loki gave him what he was asking for, and it was divine. As he pushed one finger into Tony, he also pushed his head all the way down, so close to taking Tony’s whole length into his mouth that the half inch left felt inconsequential. It felt… Oh fuck, it _felt._

Loki, by the look on his face, was not satisfied. He pulled back and glared at Tony’s cock as though it had wronged him personally, and immediately started to take another deep breath to…

Tony twined his hands in Loki’s hair and held him in place. “Catch your breath first. Don’t get frustrated and push too far too fast. You can do it. But I don’t want you to hurt yourself forcing it.”

“Mmmph.” Was the emphatic response.

Tony smiled and stroked his hair. “If you hurt yourself now, it’ll distract you from what comes later.”

Green eyes flew to his, hopeful and filled with lust. “Mm-m?”

“Yeah, later.” Tony put a foot up on one of the adjacent chairs to give Loki more room, and nodded. “Now that you’ve got your breathing under control, do it slowly. And when you reach the end of what you think you can do, swallow.”

Loki looked confused, but nodded minutely and started inching his way forward. Halfway down, he took a deep breath, and when he was nearly there, he started swallowing. Gods, that throat convulsing around his cock was fucking exquisite. A few seconds later, it was done. Loki’s nose was buried in his pubic hair, and his cock was lodged as deep as it would go. Loki kept swallowing, as if instinct had taken over. This time, somehow, he wasn’t gagging. Then he pressed his index finger further into Tony’s ass, and… oh. OH. Involuntarily, Tony surged forward. His hand was still twined in Loki’s hair and unintentionally held that sweet mouth on him as he came.

Loki docilely accepted the harsh treatment, and it wasn’t until Tony stopped pushing forward a moment later that he slowly and carefully pulled himself off Tony’s cock. He breathed heavily a moment, lying his face on one of Tony’s thighs, then looked up. “Was that right?”

“Was… are you fucking kidding me?” Tony ran his hand through Loki’s hair, and then frowned at it. “I forced you-”

“Oh fuck, don’t start that again. You were coming. It’s not like you thought it through.” Loki pulled his head up and grinned. “Besides, you just made me do what I was trying to do anyway. Win-win.”

Tony continued to breathe hard for a moment, shaking his head at the gorgeous little minx. “You’re gonna be the death of not just my career, but me in general.”

“I hope not! Who’d teach me then? You’re the only teacher who’s ever gotten through to me, Mr. Stark.” He said this with a somber face – one that didn’t really work on him – and then switched back to his usual wicked grin. “So, where’s the bedroom? Surely there’s something else we can do while you recover?”


	5. first and second

Tony could think of a hundred things to do while he recovered, and frankly, recovery wasn’t going to take that long to begin with.

Once he got Loki into his bedroom, the first order of business was getting him naked. If Tony was going to destroy his life for this, he was getting the Full Monty first. He just prayed to any deity that might exist that Loki didn’t look like a teenage boy under those tight pants and tighter shirt. He was slim and lanky, but there seemed to be a muscle definition and tone that might make Tony feel a little less like a pedophile.

He already knew that Loki had pubic hair, thank goodness. He couldn’t have lived with himself if… no, best not to dwell on it. He didn’t want Loki to think that his refractory period was enormous just because he couldn’t seem to stop thinking unsexy thoughts like that. Who knew why it mattered what Loki thought, but it did.

So instead, he peeled his snarky genius out of his clothes, piece by piece, so slowly that it started to drive Loki a little crazy. “You could go a little faster, Mr. Stark.”

Tony sighed. He’d like to demand an end to this ‘Mr. Stark’ business, but then what would happen when they got back to school? What better way to get negative attention than to start using pet names for each other right there in class? So, sadly, Mr. Stark had to stay.

“Is something wrong?” Loki’s voice was filled with concern, his eyes showing a disturbing amount of self-doubt. “I promise, if I’m doing it wrong, I can learn better.”

“You’re fine, Loki.” Tony gave the bit of leg he’d just bared a little caress. “Fine.”

Loki rather obviously tried to dismiss his nerves, but a bit of tension stayed in his shoulders. Tony reached up and took hold of the muscles on either side of his neck, and rolled his fingers across them, squeezing as he went. “Mmmmmmh… that’s good. But—”

“Not everything has to be about sex, Loki, even in sex.” He turned his body to settle behind the boy on his bed, and started going over his shoulders, working the tension out of one muscle at a time. “So stop worrying about every little thing. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“You want me to believe that I haven’t done anything wrong, but you won’t believe that you haven’t?” Loki tried to turn and frown at him, but Tony pushed his head back forward. No need to show off his own self-doubts any more than he already had. No need to further explain his situation. Loki knew why Tony’s actions were less acceptable than his own.

Tony worked Loki’s neck until every muscle was completely relaxed, by which time his cock was long past ready for some more attention.

“What do you want me to show you?” he asked Loki. It was probably not what the boy was expecting, but if Tony was going to debauch innocents (well, relative innocents), he was at least going to give them what they wanted, and not just take what he wanted.

“Hmm?” Loki asked dreamily, before realizing what he’d just been asked. “I… I think you know what I want, Mr. Stark.” If Tony didn’t know better, he’d say the brat was blushing.

“Yeah?” Tony asked smugly. “Well how about you actually ask for it? I know you’re used to manipulating your way into everything you want, but eventually, some guy is going to make you spell it out. So why don’t you get a head start?”

Loki paused for a long moment, and Tony thought for sure that he’d back down. Wanting to have sex and telling someone you wanted to have sex were oceans apart in the stress levels they caused. Then Loki turned to him, and Tony knew immediately that he was beaten. The determination and strength in those eyes told him all he really needed to know. He’d never seen Loki so focused before, not even on the test the day before.

“I want you to fuck me, Mr. Stark.” Loki said plainly, then took a deep breath.

For what? Tony wondered.

“I want you to put me on my back, and finger me open, and then put your cock in me and pound me until I scream like a girl in a horror movie. I want you to push me into the bed, and hold my hands over my head, and bite my neck.”

Oh. For that, then. Tony tried to remember how to breathe.

Loki pressed against his chest and twined his arms around Tony’s neck. “Good enough? I’ll record it and send it to you in an audio file if you’re afraid you’re going to need evidence in a court case.”

Tony couldn’t help an awkward laugh. “You would, too, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.” Loki answered simply.

Tony lifted the boy into his arms and turned around to deposit him on his back, at the head of the bed. “You’re sure about—”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Mr. Stark, what do I have to do?” Loki looked utterly exasperated. “Sign a waiver? Have it notarized? Get all my friends to sign a witness statement saying I’ve spent all year trying to get you to fuck me?” He locked eyes with Tony and was utterly serious when he spoke next. “I. Want. You. To. Fuck me.”

“I was gonna say being face up. It can be more painful like this.” Tony smiled at him. “I’m done asking, Loki. You’ve made yourself clear. We’re naked and in my bedroom. You’re getting what you want.”

Loki’s eyes sparkled excitedly. “Yes. Yes, face up. I want to look at… everything.”

“Okay, but no whining when it takes longer to prep you, got it?” Tony gave him teacher-face, as mildly shameful as it was using it in this position. He wasn’t going to be rushed into making it an unpleasant experience, though.

Snarky little bastard was still somehow ahead of him. “You’re the teacher, Mr. Stark. I’ll be here as long as it takes for me to learn to your satisfaction.” Loki laid back, arms crossed casually behind his head, and looked even more smug than usual.

Tony decided that his first order of business was getting rid of that smug attitude. Kid had no idea what he’d gotten himself into. He dropped to his hands and knees over Loki, and lowered his mouth to softly brush Loki’s lips. “Yes. You will.”

He pressed their lips together, soft and tender for a second, and then turned demanding. Forcing his way into the boy’s mouth, he kissed him until they were both breathless, then broke away and moved away from Loki.

Loki was immediately displeased with the separation. “What are—”

“Quiet. You can be quiet and learn from experience for a change.” Besides that, Tony didn’t want that sexy fucking voice to drive him to move too quickly. He grabbed the lube from the drawer in the bedside table, as well as a strip of condoms.

Loki’s eyes widened at the sight of half a dozen of them together, and he opened his mouth, only to close it again at a look from Tony. He continued to look nervous about it, though. Tony grinned. Let the kid think he was going to get it half a dozen times. It was good for his ego to pull one over on Loki for a change. Not to mention the ego boost he got from the kid obviously believing he was going to able to use all of them. For as much sex as he’d gotten in the last few years, he probably could.

First, though, prep. Tony wedged his knees between Loki’s legs to hold them apart, then he separated those obscenely long pale legs further by pulling the knees up over his own thighs, positioning him wide open and in Tony’s full view.

Loki squirmed a bit uncomfortably, halfheartedly trying to close his legs and mumbling something about ‘looking’. He was blushing even more. Tony put a soothing hand on his belly, and then he took a moment for himself to take advantage of the view. For a sixteen year old, his cock was not unimpressive. He was hard and so ready that he was starting to leak on his own belly. His spread legs gave Tony a good view of what he’d be getting into, the tight puckered hole that had almost certainly never had another man in it.

“Mr. Stark,” Loki complained, “get on with it.”

Tony couldn’t help himself, he reached out and ran his thumb across it, just brushing the surface. Loki let out a gasp, started to open his mouth, and then shut it again. He looked at Tony pleadingly, and Tony smiled back.

“You want this, Loki?” He smirked, not particularly expecting any kind of answer.

Loki, even under orders to shut up, wanted his say. So he pressed forward into Tony’s thumb and whimpered.

Tony popped the lube open and pulled his hand away from Loki’s ass long enough to pour a generous amount onto his fingers. He would do all he could to make this easier. It’s not like getting him ready for a world of assholes who didn’t bother with proper prep by doing the same thing would be a service. Loki’d have to learn that the hard way, unfortunately. Of course, he could always come back to Tony’s bedroom to be reminded that not all men were in too much of a hurry to make it good.

He slathered the lube over his fingers, and much to Loki’s frustration, started with one. That little annoyed face was positively cute. He was a little less insanely tight than the previous morning, though.

Tony grinned. “Loki,” he said in mock consternation. “Have you been trying to prep yourself?”

Loki bit his lip and looked away, but nodded. Blushing profusely, he added, “My friend said it was a good idea, in case…”

“In case I turned out to be a selfish jackass?” He asked, pressing the second finger in with more difficulty than the first.

“Unh… Yes. She said it would really hurt if…” He broke off and let his head fall to the side. The flush stayed on his cheeks, but it started looking a little less embarrassed and a lot more sexy. “Oh, please. Mmmmh. Please?”

Tony chuckled. “I told you it was going to take longer, Green Eyes. You didn’t think I was lying, did you?”

“No! I just… ready now.” Loki tossed his head back and forth at the movements Tony was making, working those two fingers in and out of him.

Tony slipped his fingers apart, trying to ready Loki for the addition of another, and it elicited a pained whimper. “You need me to slow down?”

“Oh gods, please don’t slow down! Is it even possible to go any slower?” Loki pushed toward him in frustration.

“Didn’t I tell you not to whine?” Tone asked jokingly, carefully slipping the third finger in. Loki bucked up, almost managing to squirm free of his fingers altogether, but Tony laid a carefully controlling hand on his pelvis. “You okay?”

“Fine! I’m fine! I’m not trying to get away! Give me more!” Loki whimpered and demanded at the same time.

Tony laughed. He vaguely remembered having the same attitude fifteen years earlier. He’d had such a crush on that football player who… He shook his head, bringing himself back to the present. The football player in question had been a selfish jackass who had left Tony with a less than pleasant memory of his first time, and he was not going to do the same to Loki.

He worked the same three fingers into Loki for a long while, stretching them apart just a fraction to give a little more stretch. Just as Loki started to get restless for more again, he decided to pull out the not-so-secret ace up his sleeve. He slowly pressed the fingers all the way into Loki, and carefully curled them upward as he pulled them back out.

Loki bucked up and cried out, that deep sexy voice almost a scream. Yeah, Tony still knew how to do this. He continued to finger Loki, quietly slipping open the first condom, and putting it on himself. Loki was so lost in sensation that he had no idea what was going on.

When Tony pulled his fingers out, he was rewarded with a whine. “No! I wasn’t done yet!”

It was hard not to laugh, but he pulled his face straight before Loki’s frustrated eyes found him. “Really? You want to be done before we’ve even started?” As he said the words, he lined his cock up outside Loki’s stretched hole and started to press in.

“Oh… oh, no.” Loki stared at him wide-eyed. “Please.”

Tony paused. “No, please?” He couldn’t really fault Loki if he got nervous and called it off. That was going to suck so much, though.

“Oh gods, don’t stop. Don’t stop ever!” Loki tried to squirm onto his cock.

Tony braced his left hand next to Loki’s head and smiled at him, nearly bending him in half. “Ever’s a hefty request, but I can at least not stop right now.” And he resumed pushing himself into Loki. Slowly, gently, allowing Loki to stretch to accommodate the unfamiliar girth of a cock inside him.

Loki, meanwhile, let his head fall back and loosed a series of encouraging, ecstatic whimpering noises, interspersed with ‘yes’ and ‘oh fuck’, and ‘please’. When he was all the way in, Tony slowly pulled back, and pushed in only slightly more quickly than the first time.

Tony found himself entranced with that beautiful face: eyes screwed tightly closed, perfect pink lips hanging open, slight flush on those high, sharp cheekbones. As he watched, the beautiful emerald eyes opened and focused on him, and the lips mouthed one word. “Faster?”

Tony grinned. Since the tone was that of a request, who was he to say no? He sped up incrementally, and slowly pulled his right hand up next to Loki’s head as well. Then he pulled Loki’s arms from behind his head, and took hold of his wrists. “I believe you requested this?” he asked, pushing the wrists over Loki’s head and holding them there, then further increasing his speed.

Loki just moaned loudly, instinctively wrapped his legs around Tony’s waist, and started pushing back in time with each thrust from Tony. A litany of nonsense fell from his lips between moans. Yes and please were the least of his exclamations; it was more telling Tony that he was a god, and that it was incredible, and that he’d never imagined anything could be so perfect. At least, that’s what Tony thought it was, between the moaning and whimpering and begging for more, and harder, and faster.

Tony had been with vocal lovers before. Hell, he usually was one. He’d never even seen something on this level before, though. It was like a porno, only sexy. All that enthusiastic whimpering and begging… It was his second go of the day, and it wasn’t going to last all that long. Damn.

He leaned down and fulfilled Loki’s other request, softly laying his teeth to the skin of Loki’s neck. Loki cried out and pushed his neck forward, apparently trying to force Tony to bite harder. So Tony obliged.

Then he bit down, Loki bucked upward and clenched around him, not coming, but so turned on that he’d reacted instinctively rather than rationally. For Tony, though, it was too damn much. That tight little ass squeezing him so hard sent him flying over the edge, yelling Loki’s name.

He didn’t give his brain time to think about how long it had been since he’d given a fuck about the name of the person he was sleeping with.

This, though… He rolled off of Loki as he came down, and pulled the teenager tight to his chest. He didn’t come first. Definitely not first and second. He really needed to do something impressive, now. Loki, on the other hand, looked positively thrilled. Despite the fact that he obviously hadn’t finished, a fact that was suddenly bobbing in front of Tony as Loki moved to take the condom and toss it into the trash, he looked like he’d just won the goddamned lottery.

“What’s that look about?” Tony asked between breaths.

“What look?” Loki asked innocently. Yeah, fucking right. Tony wondered if Loki had even been born innocent.

Tony snorted at him. “Cat that got the cream?”

Loki gave him that huge toothy grin. “Well I did, didn’t I? How soon can you go again?”

Tony’s regular answer would have been something like ‘are you fucking insane?’, or ‘isn’t twice enough for one fucking day?’, but neither suited the situation. Loki didn’t just want to get off. He wanted Tony to fuck him again.

Tony’s cock twitched with an alarming amount of interest. “Fuck, Loki. What the hell are you doing to me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't have the next chapter written, and I do have a test tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have the next one ready for Monday, but I make no promises. Well, except that I promise yet more smut in the next chapter.
> 
> Then maybe, MAYBE, there will be story in the one after.


	6. strawberry

Loki rolled back onto the bed, and lay there looking at Tony expectantly.

Shaking off the post orgasm exhaustion, Tony decided that the little shit was going to get more than he’d bargained for.

“Want more, huh?” He pushed Loki onto his back and ran a hand down his chest. “How much do you think you can handle?”

“Everything, Mr. Stark. I want everything.” Loki sounded breathless again.

Why was Tony surprised at this? Oh yeah, he wasn’t.

He rolled himself up between Loki’s legs again, pushing them open. He couldn’t help but grin a little at the sight of Loki’s poor abused ass. Given the demanding nature of its owner, he suspected that by the time the day was done, Loki was going to feel this every day for a week.

“Well then, Green Eyes, we’d better get back to work.” He ran his hand over the boy’s ass, and decided that more lube was in order for what he had in mind. He reached across and grabbed the bottle.

Loki watched, fascinated. “But you’re not ready, yet.”

Tony grinned, “oh, but you are, Babe. You’re way past ready, in fact. It’s gonna make this easier.”

“Make what easier?” Loki looked scandalized and intrigued at the same time. More intrigued by far, though.

He lubed his fingers, making sure Loki got a good look at what he was doing. “So you’ve been plotting this for a year,” he said conversationally. “Tell me what you were thinking. What were you hoping for? Just me leaning you over my desk and fucking you for a grade?”

Loki bit his lip a little, and looked away, thinking. Tony knew this game. How much to reveal? Obviously, he’d spent a great deal of time thinking about this. “I thought about following you into the office during classwork time, and sucking you off while everyone else was working.”

“Right there in my office?” He slowly slipped his fingers out of sight, and started rubbing them against the outside of Loki’s ass again. This elicited a whimper, but he needed a lot more than that for his purposes. The most important sex organ was the brain. Tony needed to get Loki so mentally worked up that he wouldn’t even realize his cock was being completely ignored.

“Yes, Mr. Stark. They’d know what was happening, though.” Loki pressed toward his fingers.

Tony indulged him by slipping one finger lightly in and then out again. “Would they? Why would that be?”

“Be-because they’d hear you moaning my name through the door.” Loki flushed at that, in embarrassment and arousal. Tony needed to delete embarrassment from the equation.

“I’ll bet they would. I’m not exactly quiet about things like that.” Tony grinned when this elicited an indrawn breath. “You remember the last day before winter break?” Slowly, he started working two fingers in and out of Loki’s stretched ass, as gently and softly as he could.

“Yes.” Loki pressed into his hand and gave a little whimper. “What about it? Gods, please tell me you didn’t have some–”

“You were wearing these ridiculous fucking jeans that were three sizes too small.” Loki looked down at him in surprise. He really hadn’t thought Tony had noticed him. “And you came in sucking on one of those lollipops they were selling for band uniforms. Red, whatever flavor that is.”

Loki nodded. “Strawberry. My favorite.” He let out a little whimper when Tony added a third finger to those sliding into him. “You… you noticed.”

Tony snorted in a way that probably wasn’t terribly sexy, but he couldn’t help it. “You kept catching my eye and then licking the damned thing like it was a cock. I obviously need to get you some more of those strawberry condoms.”

Loki was squirming into his fingers. “It was good. And… and…” Loki lost his train of thought for a moment when Tony picked up the pace. “I-I was thinking… of your cock, s-so it should have looked… oh _god_.” Loki trailed off completely when Tony deliberately, very softly, brushed the pads of his fingers across Loki’s prostate.

He deliberately avoided it the next few times he pressed his fingers in, and Loki started squirming around, obviously thinking that Tony had lost it and seeking to help him find it again. How cute. He ran his tongue along the inside of Loki’s thigh before saying, “I was thinking of my cock, too.” He allowed his fingers to hit the target again, a little harder this time.

“Ahhh! You… you… what?” Loki was starting to lose it. Absolutely fucking perfect.

“I was watching you suck that lollipop, thinking of my cock.” Tony pressed his fingers tight together, and gave Loki just what he needed – thrusting repeatedly against the boy’s prostate with a sudden vigor. “And then I went into my office and jerked off, thinking about you and that fucking sucker.”

Loki let out a shout as he came, his cock jerking and pulsing, spattering white strands all over his belly and chest. Tony had a strange urge to lean up and taste him, but he shoved it down. He was teaching Loki safe habits, and licking up cum was not on that list. He continued to thrust with his fingers until the orgasm was completely over, and Loki had started to try to wriggle away from the intruding digits.

After a moment of panting, Loki brought his head up weakly to look at Tony. “Did you really?” He looked so hopeful that Tony would have lied even if it hadn’t been true.

Of course, it _was_ true. It had been Tony’s first real clue that something was very wrong.

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I really. Good thing Bruce didn’t walk in on me too, since it’s not just _my_ office. So no trying to suck me off in my office when school is back in session.”

Loki smiled mischievously. “I never make promises. Don’t have to lie, that way.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Shower time, Green Eyes.” He stood and stretched.

Loki raised an eyebrow. “Already?”

“Already, what?” Tony looked down at him. “You expecting me to have my way with you in the shower, too?”

Loki blushed. “Well… I wouldn’t protest that. But seriously, isn’t showering what you do when you’re completely finished making a mess?” He motioned to his cum-covered torso, and Tony’s eyes were drawn there. Gods, he wanted to lick that creamy skin…

He shook his head to clear it. “Fuck, Loki, did you slip me something in that coffee?”

Loki cocked his head confusedly for a moment, then grinned this disturbing manic grin. “Oooh, I could have done that. I’ll bet that Na-err, _my friend_ could get her hands on some–”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Romanoff, I should have known.” He grabbed Loki’s hand and pulled him up and toward the bathroom. “I tell you what, when I can’t get it up for you, I’ll willingly go in and get a goddamned scrip for the shit. But until then, can we keep my coffee just coffee?”

Loki laughed. “I suppose. If you promise.”

“I never make promises…” Tony opened the door and held it for Loki, eyeing him amusedly.

Loki scowled at him, but went in anyway. “Nice shower, Mr. Stark. Practically made for sex.”

“Well I won’t say I didn’t consider that when I bought the house.” Tony flipped the fan on, and then the water. “But I haven’t put it to nearly enough use.”

“You’ll never convince me that you’re not getting mountains of sex.” Loki looked genuinely dubious.

Tony laughed aloud. “And when am I supposed to be having all this sex? Weeknights when I’m grading my student’s homework? Weekends, when I’m making lesson plans and giving makeup tests to miscreants who skip class?”

Loki frowned at this. “Do you really work that much? I mean… surely you can reuse lesson plans.”

“Sure. But I’m not forty, Loki. I haven’t been teaching that long. I don’t have hundreds of plans just sitting around.” Tony held the shower door for Loki and motioned him in.

Loki climbed into the shower, but he kept his eyes on Tony the whole time. “Not to sound self-serving, but couldn’t you give less homework?”

Tony followed him into the shower, picking up the loofah and running it across the student’s stomach, cleaning away temptation. “Self-serving so you’d have less homework, or more sex?”

“Both!” Loki grinned and leaned into Tony, “though I think the second is becoming a bigger concern. The homework doesn’t take that long.”

“I think I’ve created a monster,” Tony sighed dramatically.

Loki grinned again, and slid his hands down Tony’s chest, one landing on his overworked cock. It almost immediately started to perk up. “You didn’t create a monster, Mr. Stark. You just taught him what to do with his prey when he captures it.”

Those long, elegant fingers wrapped around him, and slowly stroked his length as it came erect yet again. He was going to be so fucking sore tomorrow.

Loki wet his lips with his tongue, and leaned into Tony. “I honestly don’t know how much more I can take, and still be able to sit in the morning.”

“Mmmm?” Tony didn’t trust his mouth. Part of him wanted so badly to protest that he could go slow, that Loki could definitely take it again… suddenly, all he wanted was to be back inside his little D student. If he opened his mouth, he’d say it. Bad enough that he was taking advantage of his position of authority. He wasn’t going to press his sudden insatiability on Loki.

Loki draped himself across Tony’s front, pressing their cocks together. “Could you, though? Fuck me again?”

“Fuck yes.” Tony ground out, his hands itching to grab Loki and push him against the shower wall. He kept them to himself, though. He was suddenly sure Loki had more plans, and he rather wanted to see what they were.

Running his hands up and down Tony’s chest, he leaned in to whisper in his ear. “I want you to bend me over and take me. Hard.”

Tony groaned. Oh jesus. “You were just worried about sitting down tomorrow.”

“Maybe I want to worry about it even more.” Loki reached down and took his cock in hand again. “And I think maybe you want to make it hard for me to sit down tomorrow, Mr. Stark.”

“Out of the shower. Towel. Over the counter. Now.” Jesus, the kid had reduced him to sentence fragments. He turned the water off and stalked out of the bathroom to grab the lube and another condom. He came back to find exactly what he’d demanded. Loki, leaning across a towel, bent over his bathroom counter. His legs were spread wantonly, and he was watching the door intently when Tony came in.

“Mr. Stark.” He punctuated this by sticking his ass further up in the air.

“You want to feel this in the morning, Loki?” He demanded, opening the condom and rolling it on.

Loki moaned, reaching back with his own hand to slip a finger in his stretched ass. “Yes, please…”

Tony batted his hand away. “Mine.”

Loki just moaned in answer, lifting his ass further off the counter.

Tony tested with his first two fingers, checking to see if he was still anywhere near ready. Not bad… Well Loki wanted to feel it. He slathered the lube onto his condom covered cock, and then without further preparation, he started to push his way into Loki’s tight little ass.

“ _Oh god_ , Mr. Stark!” Loki yelled immediately.

Tony paused. “Too much?”

“No, keep going!” He pushed back repeatedly, fucking himself on Tony’s cock. It was absolutely fucking entrancing to watch. Then he whimpered. “Please? Please, Mr. Stark, fuck me.”

That got Tony’s attention. He pulled out and pushed all the way back in forcefully, and was rewarded with a high-pitched whine from Loki that sounded like it had intended to be ‘yes.’ And Tony’s tenuous grasp on his control snapped. He grabbed Loki’s hips and thrust forward, fucking into Loki as though their lives depended on it. Loki’s noises were ecstatic and pained, but ‘yes’ and ‘more’ continued to feature in them, so Tony drove him harder. Loki braced his hands on the mirror to keep his head from smacking it repeatedly, but he kept pushing back on Tony’s cock harder and harder.

It didn’t take Tony long to reach the precipice, but this time, he was not being driven over the edge without company. He slid his right hand around Loki’s midsection, and took a firm grip on his poor ignored cock, which was completely hard again. Damn.

Loki moaned loudly and started thrusting into his hand. “Oh… Mr. Stark. Ahhh… Oh… oh god…” Loki didn’t seem to know which way to move that delicious ass. Toward the hand or the cock? He tried each in succession, moaning in frustration when he couldn’t find a rhythm that suited him.

So Tony took the choice out of his hands, and changed his angle so that each thrust forced Loki down onto his hand. Given the added benefit of once again hitting Loki’s poor battered prostate, it didn’t take long to push him over the edge. When he felt the sticky warmth of Loki’s release cover his hand and the towel, Tony let himself go, leaning over Loki’s back and yelling his own release.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and the two of them just panted in time.

“Mr. Stark?” Loki’s wrung out voice came from beneath him, much smaller and more unsure than usual.

“Loki?” He panted back.

Those stunning green eyes turned toward him as much as possible from the position beneath him. “Do... do we have to use all of those condoms today? I don’t know if…”

Tony laughed out loud and Loki’s voice trailed off. “No, Babe. We don’t. In fact, I’m almost a hundred percent sure that we’re done for the day.”

He had to stifle another laugh at the mixture of relief and disappointment in Loki’s eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All smut today, but pretty much none on Thursday. Actually none, in fact. Hope y'all are willing to read a chapter of... you know, plot, and feels, and things like that. I promise, it's probably going to be the only one!
> 
> Also, always: your comments make me happy. You guys are awesome, and I'm happy someone other than just Pluma and I are enjoying our fics.


	7. jackass

Tony was surprised when Loki didn’t show up on Monday.

He supposed the boy was probably a little too sore for another round, or hadn’t finished any more homework. Goodness knew his cock was a little chafed from the sudden and vigorous workout. He imagined it would be difficult to concentrate on physics homework when your ass was sore. Somewhere in the back of his head, he was berating himself for the rough treatment. The boy had said he’d wanted it, but how was he supposed to know what he wanted when he’d never had it before?

He spent half the day worrying about whether Loki was okay, and the other half replaying the previous afternoon in his head. He still felt like the biggest heel of all time, taking advantage of his position as teacher. He still wondered if there was something wrong with him. He’d never found any of his students sexually attractive before, however traditionally attractive they were. It was easy to know that the cheerleader was pretty without wanting to sleep with her. Recognizing beauty was different from wanting to fuck it.

He had taught hundreds, maybe a thousand students in the few years he’d been teaching high school. Even when he’d started it at just twenty two, though, he’d found the mere idea of teenagers unattractive sexually. They were overdramatic, self-absorbed, and didn’t generally give a fuck about what he was trying to teach them. For most of them it was a science credit that looked good on a college application, so they could go get artsy degrees and careers and forget they even knew math and science.

Loki was all three of those things, and didn’t even plan to have a career. What made him any different than the others? And why the hell was Tony lying on his back jerking off to images of the previous afternoon for the second time in a day?

It wasn’t until Tuesday passed without word from Loki that Tony started to worry.

On Wednesday, he started glancing out the window and waiting for the police cars to come up his long drive. He sure as fuck wasn’t going to look it up online, so he tried to figure out from his own knowledge just what he’d be in for. Jail, a court date, community service, and the end of his teaching career sounded about right. Oh yeah, and the sex offender registry.

And then going back to his father, begging.

He’d probably have to apologize for besmirching poor Obadiah’s good name. Fuck. Maybe he could get a job at Hammer Tech. He hated that asshole, but at least Justin Hammer would just act smug about the son of the great Howard Stark being so desperate for sex that he forced himself on a teenager. He wouldn’t make Tony lie.

He drank himself to sleep that night, trying not to think about the future. Why did things always look like they were worth the punishment when you were doing them? Why did part of him _still_ think it had been worth it?

He woke up Thursday afternoon with a hangover and a level of self-hatred that even he hadn’t known he was capable of. Had he hurt Loki somehow? Was the poor kid checked into a mental ward somewhere talking to a shrink about goddamn Tony Stark and what he’d put him through? He was sure he hadn’t done any serious physical damage. A bruise or two, maybe, but nothing that would even need a Band-Aid.

He felt like he was waiting for a bubble to burst, and the anticipation was going to kill him.

Thursday night, he found himself staring at another half empty bottle.

He was never going to work for Justin Hammer. He was angry with his father, sure. The bastard had treated him like his feelings were worthless. He had ignored Tony for most of his childhood. He was a selfish, self-centered workaholic who drank too much. And it make him so different from Tony… how?

Well Howard probably hadn’t emotionally traumatized a teenaged boy by having an afternoon of the best sex of his life with him. Dammit. The best sex of his life. He was so screwed.

He picked up his phone and stared at it. He could just end all of this by turning himself in and telling everyone what he’d done. What was the local number for the cops? This wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you called 911 for. He didn’t think the cops would appreciate the added annoyance of a sex offender who couldn’t even turn himself in properly.

He could just drive to the police station. After half a bottle of whiskey. Yeah. A DWI _and_ a statutory rape charge. Even better.

He searched for five minutes before he found his phone book. Hell, he almost didn’t remember how to use a phone book. He was probably just trying to put it off longer. He could have just looked online. It was surprisingly easy to find the number in the phone book, but he supposed it should be easy to find, what with the police being sort of important.

He flipped his smartphone on and hit the button to bring up the phone functions. It was still on his contacts list from when he’d called an old friend a week earlier. Right above entry “James Rhodes” was one that he’d changed years earlier: “Jackass.”

On a pathetic drunken whim, he pressed it. What the hell was he doing? He should hang it up before it connected and Howard knew that Tony had even called. Then it rang.

Jesus Christ, it was midnight. The old man wasn’t even going to be awake. That was even better. Tony was going to wake him up, and his father’s first words to him in more than five years were going to be ‘what the fuck is wrong with you?’ Another ring.

Why wasn’t he hanging up? He was so fucking pathetic. He slid his finger toward the ‘end call’ button.

“Tony? Tony is that you? Are you okay?” His father’s voice came through on the other end of the line. He didn’t sound angry, or drunk, or even tired. He sounded concerned. “Tony? Do you need me to get the police?” How… ? Howard. He probably figured the only reason Tony would call him in the middle of the night was because he didn’t have anyone else who would help him. Well fuck, he didn’t.

Tony couldn’t help it, he chuckled. “Nope. Can’t even do that myself.”

“Tony? Do you… do you need my help?” Howard paused for a minute, then added, “I can be there in an hour.”

“Are you offering to help me bury a body, Dad?” He almost laughed again. Then he realized what his father had said. “Wait, you know where I live?”

Howard didn’t even pause this time. “Of course I know where you are, Tony. Do you really think I’d let you disappear without knowing that you’re safe?”

“Why would you even care?” Tony wanted to know. “After the way things ended–”

“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Tony. You were right. I never should have doubted that, and it’s disgusting that it took a lawsuit from an intern to make me realize what a mistake I’d made.” The words came out of the phone in a rush. Tony wasn’t sure whether it was from a need to tell him, or a concern that the courage to say them would fade. It was probably how he’d feel, under the circumstances.

Tony sighed. “Jesus, Dad, I’m sorry. That doesn’t make me feel better.” He was way too drunk to be properly comforting.

“ _Are_ you in trouble, Tony? Because I really can be there in an hour. Maybe less.” Howard was not only going to drive out in the middle of the night, he was going to speed.

“No, Dad. It’s not anything you can help with. I just…” Tony leaned back against something, and realized he was sitting on his kitchen floor with his back against a chair. The chair he’d been sitting in when Loki had… He shivered in something that should have been disgust, but wasn’t. “I fucked up. I fucked up, and I’m alone, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Is anyone hurt?” Howard asked tentatively.

Tony blinked up at the ceiling. “Wait, are you seriously asking me if I need help burying a body, Dad? Really?”

It was Howard’s turn to sigh. “You haven’t killed anyone, Tony. You’d be a lot more panicked. But if there is a _problem_ , I can fix it.”

“It’s nothing like that,” he lied. “You can’t fix this. And… I don’t think I’m in trouble.” If Loki had told someone, if the police were coming for him… it would have happened on Monday, or Tuesday… maybe Wednesday. “I just acted like a selfish asshole, as usual, and I may have hurt someone. Someone I like a lot.”

Wait, where the hell had that come from? He liked Loki a lot?

Well… yeah. Kind of. When he wasn’t being a manipulative brat. Tony was a little worried he might like Loki even more then.

“Well of all people, I would know how that feels, Tony.” He heard exhaustion in his father’s voice. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

“Not really,” he said definitively, and then continued on anyway. “I slept with someone I shouldn’t have. I took a relationship to a level I shouldn’t have. I’m afraid that I hurt him.”

There was a long pause, and Tony belatedly realized he’d he had ‘outed’ himself to his father as at least bisexual. Well that made his night complete. “Is he a child, Tony?”

“What!?” Tony sat up so fast that he pushed the chair behind him two feet back and almost fell down.

“You’re teaching children science. That’s what the investigators tell me. Did you…?” All the things his ultra-heterosexual father could be worried about, and that was where he immediately went? Did Tony fit a profile or something?

“Do I seem like a pedophile? He… he’s… over the age of consent. I just shouldn’t… nevermind that. And I don’t teach children science, Dad, I teach Physics at a high school. Way more futile and useless.” He searched for a way to change the subject entirely. Mom? No. Stane? _Way_ no. The company?

“Why don’t you come home and work at SI, Tony?” His father, the psychic, threw out.

Tony frowned. “I have a job, Dad.”

“You just called it, and I quote, ‘futile and useless.’ Doesn’t sound like the kind of job you should be doing to me.” His father’s voice had taken on ‘fix it’ mode, a tone and pattern that Tony knew all too well. “SI is changing the future, Tony. You should be doing something serious with your life.”

“It’s not really futile, Dad. I… I just complain sometimes. You know that.” Tony lay back across the kitchen floor. “Besides, I have a contract with the school district. And… I’m a teacher now. I’m doing something worthwhile with my life already.”

He swore he could hear Howard’s frown on the other end of the line. “You could be doing so much, Tony… But I’ll respect your choice on this.”

Tony was honestly flabbergasted. He held back his stunned retort in favor of something more appropriate. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Will you come home to visit this summer?” His father was actually asking for a change, instead of demanding.

“Yeah. I’ll visit.” Tony suddenly understood what people meant when they said ‘you can never go home again.’ His father didn’t make him feel safe anymore. The thought of going to visit his parents didn’t make him feel all warm and fuzzy, like some kind of beautiful homecoming. It just seemed like a nice thought, seeing his parents again for a while.

“I’m proud of you, Tony. It may not be what I wanted, but you’ve done something with your life. You’ve done well.” Fix it mode was gone from his voice, and he was just… Dad. That practically never happened.

“Thanks, Dad.” Tony refused to admit that there were tears in his eyes. It was the whiskey talking.

“I love you, Tony.” His father’s voice sounded a little wobbly.

“I love you too, Dad.” His may or may not have been as well.

“Now go sleep it off. Give me a call about coming out this summer when you’re sober, okay? And if this thing turns out to not be such a horrible mistake, you can bring your boyfriend along to meet your mother and me.” His father said as he hung up the phone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. Umm.. sorry. *hides*


	8. mouse ears

Friday morning, Tony woke up still lying on his kitchen floor, his phone and half a bottle of whiskey sitting next to him. The phone’s battery was dead. He had a vague memory of curling up on the kitchen floor and playing that obnoxious bird game on the phone until he fell asleep. Oops.

A glance at the clock on the microwave told him that it was nine in the morning.

He realized why he had woken so early when a knock came at the door. It was a little fast, like the person doing the knocking had tried one too many times and was getting frustrated or worried. Fuck, he hoped his father hadn’t come to check on him.

He stumbled his way up, leaving the bottle and the phone on the floor, and made his way to the door. He half expected to open it and find cops waiting despite the story he’d told himself and Howard the night before. Tony was shocked to find Loki there instead.

The kid looked worried, and his hand was raised as though to knock again.

Immediately after registering those facts, Tony’s brain flipped off. He was wearing those damned jeans — the Winter Break Jeans, as Tony had dubbed them in his mind. And a t-shirt that looked too small, too. His cock immediately took notice, not asking his opinion at all about whether he wanted to be turned on. By the time Tony had managed to glance back up at Loki’s face again, there was a tentative but nervous smile on it.

“Mr. Stark?” He said Tony’s name like a question, and bit his lip in a disarmingly innocent way. Which was utter bullshit, and both of them knew it.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Tony demanded in return, not willing to be swayed by the gesture. Or the shirt, or the jeans, or… _Stop looking at that, Tony,_ he insisted to himself. _Don’t just give in to him!_ Tony took a deliberate step back. Somewhere in the back of his head, he realized that reacting on an emotional level was putting him at a disadvantage, but Tony had never been good at hiding his emotions.

Loki flinched, and looked even more nervous. “I’m sorry!”

“And…?” Tony prodded, waiting for an explanation. He shoved down the little voice in his head telling him that Loki didn’t owe him one. Loki didn’t. But Tony needed it.

“My family dragged me off to Disneyland," Loki blurted out. "Can you believe it? Fucking ridiculous Disneyland.” Loki was scowling all of a sudden, and the expression seemed much more genuine.

“What, you didn’t feel at home surrounded by a bunch of pretty princesses?” That sounded a little nasty even to Tony, but fuck, the things Loki’s absence had done to Tony’s brain!

Loki shuddered. “I did not.” He bit his lip again, looking at Tony with something resembling true regret in his eyes. “It wasn’t my intention to disappear that way, Mr. Stark. I would have called you, but I didn’t have your number. I didn’t know about the trip beforehand. Apparently, it’s my father’s idea of a surprise, taking his adult sons to Disneyland.”

Tony couldn’t help it; that made him chuckle.

“Sure, laugh it up. You’re not the one who was forced to wear Mickey Mouse ears for three days, spend all day every day with his overexcited brother who is secretly five years old, and pose next to Sleeping Beauty because, and I quote, ‘you just look so much like Maleficent.’ I’d rather have been here.” Loki broke for breath before adding, “A lot.”

You could call Tony an idiot, and he was sure many people would have, but that sounded like genuine misery. He was glad Howard had never taken the family on a trip like that. It sounded like just the kind of thing Tony’s mother would have encouraged when he was that age. He thought about it for a moment, but Loki didn’t seem to have the patience for that moment.

“I can make it up to you!” Loki stepped forward and pressed his whole body length to Tony. Fuck, the kid worked faster than usual when he was desperate.

“Look, Loki–” Tony started, not entirely sure where he was going with the sentence.

“No!” Loki reached to his back pocket, and Tony swore it was a goddamned miracle that anything fit into it, but his hand came back with a sheaf of papers. “My physics homework. All of it. I finished it at Disney.”

“Good excuse to avoid socializing?” Tony guessed. He noticed, at least to himself, that he hadn’t pulled his body away from Loki’s. And heck, why should he? It was all warm and pliant.

Loki nodded glumly, seeming to assume that the calculated logic discounted the fact that he had done his homework. “I told them that you read me the riot act, and threatened to have me expelled for contributing to Fandral’s delinquency.”

This shocked Tony. Not because Loki had lied, but because—“They bought that bullshit?”

That brought out the Loki grin. “First rule of lying. Know your audience. My mother wants to believe me. My brother is an idiot. Odin likes it when I’m in trouble." He shrugged, his whole demeanor saying, _too bad, what can you do?_ "Plus, he thinks you’re just the kind of hardass who would do something like that. I didn’t tell him that I was more interested in other… aspects of your ass.”

“And what makes you think you’re getting anywhere near this ass?” Contrary to the words, Tony pressed back against Loki. His body appeared to have forgiven the whole mess, even if his higher brain functions were still screaming for him to back the hell off.

“Well I was hoping that maybe the final exam for this class would be… ‘hands on’?” The Loki grin seemed to get even wider.

Tony decided that if his defeat was inevitable, he was going to have fun getting there. If you're gonna fall anyway, might as well sky-dive, right? “You’re going to have to do really well on the rest of the class to even get a chance at a final exam." He looked at Loki's hopeful face. "Christ, you’re an adorable little brat. You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?” Tony opened the door and let him in, snatching the physics homework from his hand as he went.

Loki’s only answer was a grin.

“Alrighty, Betty Crocker, get in the kitchen and make breakfast while I clean myself up and get some fresh clothes on.” Tony bounded for the stairs, feeling oddly less hung over and somehow lighter than he should. He was half joking about the food, but some toast did sound pretty good.

Loki’s amused voice followed him up the stairs. “Right away, Dear.”

Tony showered and dressed in record time. Some wicked instinct had made him forego underwear; a little surprise for his wayward student. That, in turn, made him realize that he completely intended to have sex with Loki again. Today. Of course, he reasoned with himself, the damage was done. He couldn’t take it all back. He dismissed thoughts of cutting his losses, or running before he got any more attached to someone he shouldn’t even know on a personal level.

He stuffed a condom into one pocket, and strode cheerfully down the stairs, clutching the finished homework in one hand and his red pencil in the other. Then he smelled bacon and his mood improved again, if such a thing were possible. Of course it was. He could have bacon _and_ fuck Loki into the kitchen table.

When he reached the threshold of the kitchen to find Loki wearing his apron and frying eggs and bacon, he had to restrain himself from jumping on the younger man. Fuck, but that was sexy. “I’m giving up, Green Eyes,” he said in a mock sorrowful tone.

Loki turned sharply, but the gathering tension in his shoulders relaxed when he saw the sparkle in Tony’s eye. “Giving up on something specific, or just in general?”

“You’re the one who wants this. I cave to the inevitable and beg pitifully. Marry me?” Tony held out his hand with a flourish, and Loki laughed.

“Of course, Mr. Stark. No begging necessary, even. Shall we honeymoon in Tahiti?” Loki turned back to the frying pan, smiling.

It suddenly occurred to Tony that Loki could have taken him seriously – oh crap – but the light tone of his words implied otherwise. “Sure. Tahiti, Bermuda, Hawaii… Hell, why don’t we just tour the tropics for the next few years?”

“Sounds lovely." Loki peered at him over his shoulder, smirking. "How are we going to get around the fact that I’m sixteen? Bribe a priest? Buy a fake ID?" Oh good, that was definitely a joking tone. "Or we could try to find some country where marrying a teenage boy is legal. France, maybe?”

“France sounds good, though if I want to marry an underage boy, ancient Greece might be the way to go.” Tony sat down and started marking the homework in earnest. It was a lot of physics while hung over and not yet fed, even for Tony.

“Unfortunately, visiting ancient Greece is not an option, and I doubt they’re quite as thrilled with pederasty now as they were then.” Loki pulled toast from the toaster, and started buttering it.

“Big word, that. How’s a slacker learn about pederasty?” From what Tony saw, the homework was flawless. He was impressed. If this was family avoidance at Disneyland, Tony wanted to know what Loki could do when he was trying for the sake of the science, and not the sex.

Loki turned a sly grin over his shoulder at Tony. “When one is attempting to inspire a thing in someone, they’re well served to study its history.”

Tony facepalmed and sighed at his bratty student. What could you say to a thing like that?

Loki’s answer was a plate of bacon, eggs, and toast. Then, there was a cup of coffee made just the way Tony liked it. Jesus. It was too bad Loki was sixteen. He’d be all for a serious relationship with a hot, smart guy who could cook like that.

It was all Tony could do not to cover his mouth, as though those words might come flying out of him against his will. Of course, considering how hung-over he still was, they might. And the last thing he needed was to tell Loki that things like _that_ were going through his mind. Starting to push toward thirty and Tony still seemed to have absolutely no filter between his brain and his mouth. Weren’t you supposed to learn that with age?

So because he couldn’t trust his mouth to do the sensible thing, he decided to stop its villainous rampage before it started: he stuffed it full of bacon. Best punishment ever.

Loki sat and looked at him, his nerves still showing in the way he fidgeted, running his fingers along the edge of the wooden table. He glanced at Tony, and his homework, and the food, and then focused on the table in front of himself. If Tony hadn’t known him so well, he’d have dismissed it as Loki’s usual manipulative attitude, but there was something else in it. The notion that Tony was causing Loki to have serious, non-faked feelings of concern or regret was just too much.

Tony knew right then that he’d not only lost, but he was just going to keep losing to Loki. “You can calm down, Loki. If I haven’t kicked you out yet, I’m probably not going to. Besides, I’m pretty sure it’s rude to let a man cook you bacon and then kick him out of your house.”

Loki smiled down at the table, albeit a bit grudgingly. “I really didn’t want to go to Disney.”

“I know.” Tony leaned out and put a hand on top of Loki’s. “You’re a good enough liar to pull one over on me, but fuck it all, who _would_ want to go to Disney with your father?”

At that, Loki burst into laughter. “At least he had an awful time too. Mother made him wear mouse ears too.”

They both laughed at that, and Loki even had pictures on his phone of a deeply unhappy Odin in mouse ears, so the image was cemented in Tony’s mind if he ever needed something to laugh about. Served him right for being so deeply out of touch with his kids.

Given the look on Loki’s mother’s face in one of the pictures, he began to suspect that Odin had nothing to do with the vacation plans. She seemed so happy, wearing her mouse ears (hers had Minnie Mouse's bow) and posing with anyone she could get Loki to take a picture of her with. The hope on her face was plain for anyone with eyes. She was a woman who wanted her family to be happy. It reminded him of the way his own mother used to try to drag both him and Howard away from projects to spend quality time together. He missed her. It’d be nice to see her over the summer.

He was distracted from his tangent when he realized that Loki was behind him, kneading his shoulders. He was even leaning backward, into those clever hands. Stupid sex crazed body, determined to make him act inappropriately! He looked up at Loki, catching his upside-down smile.

Without warning, Loki swooped down and kissed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, it's another chapter with no actual sex! Where did that come from?
> 
> Just barely in on time, because my Pluma is a lifesaver and told me not to scrap it and start over.


	9. stop rushing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a bit longer than an average chapter of this fic, fair warning.

“Should we start with a review of lesson two?” Loki started to go down to his knees on the kitchen floor, already reaching for Tony’s zipper.

Tony caught his hand, and Loki looked like… well, was there a cat who had been denied the cream? Because Loki looked like that. “Don’t go rushing off without me there, Green Eyes.” He picked up a piece of bacon and bit off half of it, chewing deliberately.

“It’s okay, Mr. Stark. You can keep eating, and just tell me if I’m doing it wrong.” Loki’s hand twitched in Tony’s grip, as though he wanted to power through and get to that zipper as fast as he could. Tony wondered if the kid still thought Tony was going to toss him out.

Instead of letting go of Loki’s hand, though, Tony pulled on it, toppling Loki into his lap. With his other hand, he offered Loki bacon by holding the strip up to his lips. Hesitantly, he accepted and ate from Tony’s hand, his back rigid. Tony could get used to having someone sit in his lap for breakfast, if that someone could hurry up and relax.

“Now, then. Lessons. Here’s an important one: don’t always be in such a rush.” Tony picked up his coffee and took a generous drink. He offered the mug to Loki, who demurred. Loki was paying attention, though, which was a damned nice feeling. “You keep getting caught up in right now, right here. All this immediacy can be counterproductive.”

Loki’s brow furrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Don’t always be in such a rush. That’s what it means.” Tony gave him a look that insisted he stop asking stupid questions. Contrary to popular belief, there were stupid questions. Namely, ones that have just been asked and answered, and then the stupid person who wasn’t paying attention asks them again.

Of course, Loki _was_ paying attention. He just needed a clearer answer. As soon as he was done with his bacon, Tony was going to be quite happy to give him one.

He grinned up at Loki. “You’re going to have to give me a few minutes to finish breakfast, and then we can get down to business. S’what you get for being so good in the kitchen.”

Loki shrugged. “I’ve taken foods class every year, and I’ve learned even more from my mother. It’s an important skill for a house husband, you know. I can cook anything you want.” The kid looked positively smug about it.

“Sure, that’s why you offered me a soufflé.” Tony bit into the last piece of bacon. “But if you can make bacon and eggs, I think you’re doing pretty good. Anybody who demands a soufflé probably isn’t future husband material.”

“No?” Loki quirked the corner of his mouth in an almost-smile. “Do tell me more. What makes good future husband material?”

“You mean other than financial security?” Tony chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, there’s the lack of demanding a soufflé.” To bring up his prior thoughts, or not? Loki wasn’t a child, dammit. He came to Tony for information. He needed to know things. “Sex.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Well I’m here to learn about that. I hardly think—”

“Not what I mean, Sunshine. You can know all you want, but he needs to know something too. Or at least, he needs to be willing to learn.”

Loki seemed to think about that for a moment.

“You remember your friend worrying about whether you’d get hurt?” When Loki nodded, Tony continued, “Well she wasn’t just whistling Dixie. Did it hurt, what we did?”

Loki blushed, and shrugged a bit. When Tony poked him in the chest with his bacon, he laughed. “A… a little. Not much, though! Mostly the next day.” He seemed worried that Tony was going to take offense.

“Okay, now imagine I didn’t know you needed preparation.” Tony stuffed the last of the bacon into his mouth and let Loki digest that statement.

Loki’s face went from curious, to blank, to horrified in the span of a few seconds. “Surely, people know how to do that? I mean… I didn’t, though.” He frowned, and nodded. “But I’m going to marry someone experienced.” He announced this like it was supposed to answer everything. Like the thought of him marrying some faceless old guy was going to make Tony happy.

With effort, Tony managed not to shudder. “Not always that helpful, I’m afraid.” Loki frowned at that, and Tony immediately launched into his explanation. “A surprising number of people initiate sex for just what they can get out of it, Loki. They don’t give a damn if you get off. They don’t care if you’re prepped, or even if you enjoy it at all.”

“But why would you have sex with someone if you don’t care whether they enjoy it?” Loki demanded to know, looking upset by the very thought.

Tony cleaned his hands off on the napkin Loki had thoughtfully provided and then ran a finger down the boy’s cheek. “Because some people are only having sex to get _themselves_ off. It’s an important lesson. Maybe even more important than the other ones.”

“The other ones that were the most important lesson?” Loki looked smug, and instead of wanting to wipe the expression off his face, Tony found it adorable.

“Yeah, well, I wasn’t thinking of this one then.” Tony downed the last of his coffee, and turned Loki sideways in his lap to face him better. “If you think someone is just out for what they can get from you, get the hell out of there. No sex is worth the possibility of injury just because your partner is a selfish asshole. And nothing is more important than the self-esteem that a relationship like that can take away from you.”

The kid was obviously confused. “What does any of this have to do with my self-esteem?”

Running his hands down the sides of Loki’s chest, he wriggled fingers under that tight, tight shirt. “If someone wants to have sex with you, but doesn’t care enough to make sure you enjoy it, what does it mean? Other than that they’re an asshole?”

Loki thought about it for a minute before understanding dawned. “That I’m not worth the time or effort to make sure I like it.”

“Exactly.” Tony grinned at him, leaning up for a kiss. Wait, when had he started doing that? It was natural that Loki wanted to kiss, but Tony was supposed to be the one who kept his head. And he wondered why he was always in trouble. “Anyone worth having sex with cares about whether you enjoy it. Just like anyone worth having sex with is worth the time you take to make sure _they_ enjoy it.”

There was one piece of toast left on the plate, and Loki picked it up to take a tentative nibble. “That makes sense. But how do you know which is which beforehand?”

“You don’t. Sorry, there’s no great secret to picking good partners beforehand.” Tony slid his hands fully under the shirt, and caressed the skin beneath. “You just have to be willing to walk away if they turn out to be losers.”

“Who wouldn’t just walk away if they were lousy in bed?” Loki scoffed.

Tony couldn’t help a grin. “Me once, for one.” At Loki’s widened eyes, he nodded. “I was pretty determined to have sex. It didn’t even occur to me that just because it was my first time didn’t mean it should hurt. In retrospect, it’s obvious that I should have walked away." He smirks wryly. "It’s a little harder to make impartial observations like that when you’re a horny teenager, though. Sound familiar?”

“No.” Loki was back to smug. “My first time didn’t hurt like that. I was just a little sore.”

“Jesus Christ, you are such a fucking brat. You’re telling me you would’ve walked away if it had hurt more?” Tony almost hoped that the answer was yes, even though he’d doubt it anyway.

Loki didn’t seem to need to lie about it, though. “No. I wouldn’t have. I’d have thought it was the way it was supposed to be.” To his credit, he actually seemed bothered by the idea. “Why don’t they teach that in health class? It seems kind of important.”

“It is kind of important. And they teach as little as possible about sex in health class. They’re lucky they’re even allowed to tell you what a condom is.” Tony didn’t even want to start on all that was wrong with the American education system in general, let alone in regard to sex. It was practically a crime against children.

Loki finished the toast, and wiped his hands daintily on the napkin. “So they deliberately don’t tell us things like that, because of the crazy people who want us to learn all about the joys of abstinence? You know, there’s a girl in our class who says that anal doesn’t count, so it’s the same as abstinence. I know she’s an idiot, but… some people really think that.”

Tony couldn’t help laughing. “So your virginity is intact, then.”

“Not funny!” Loki looked personally offended. “She’s the idiot, not me. I’m well aware that my virginity is gone." He sniffed. "And good riddance.”

“Nothing wrong with being a virgin.” Tony pushed Loki off his lap and stood.

Loki allowed himself to be manhandled but, and rolled his eyes at Tony’s words. “Sure, and how old were you when you let that careless idiot have sex with you?”

“Not old enough.” Tony told him matter-of-factly, and then pushed Loki back down into the chair.

Loki looked confused by the chair, but was still focused enough on the conversation to raise a dubious eyebrow. “Really? I thought you were supposed to be teaching me. Aren’t you the one who always tells us that if information doesn’t come with actual facts, then we should assume that it’s wrong? ‘Not old enough’ is not a fact, Mr. Stark. Sixteen is a fact.”

“Yeah, and you’re sixteen. I wasn’t.” Ton walked over to a drawer and pulled out a couple of clean dishtowels. “Pants off.”

“It can’t be that bad, you said you were still a teenager. What - eighteen?” Loki’s tone said that he wasn’t going to let this go, even as his hands automatically went to his zipper and followed the instruction. It was kind of cute that he thought Tony couldn’t possibly have started younger than he had. He was obviously too distracted to think it through. He had to stop and pull off his shoes and socks before his trousers, and then it took some effort to yank them off his legs. The things were so damned tight that it reminded Tony of peeling paint.

As tempting as it was to grab a clean napkin and gag the little brat, Tony doubted that would go over well. What he was planning was quite bad enough. He supposed he’d have to tell him the truth. “You’re overestimating my patience.”

“I’m going as fast as I can!” came the muffled protest. Loki had bent over to pull the trousers past his heels.

“Not what I meant,” Tony knelt down next to him and pushed the hem of his shirt up, urging Loki to lift his arms so that he could strip him completely. “I meant I didn’t wait till I was sixteen.”

Loki’s head came free of the shirt, and Tony saw his eyes widen marginally. “You were… younger than me?”

“I was halfway through high school and still a virgin.” As Loki tossed the shirt over to lie with his jeans on the floor, Tony pressed one of his legs against the chair leg, and tied the two together.

Interestingly, Loki was more fascinated by the conversation than the fact that Tony was tying him up. “So you must have been close to my age, right?”

Ahh, teenagers. The world revolved around them. “I told you I was a teenager, right?”

“So? You could have been thirteen, for all I know. And what kind of sick bastard would sleep with a thirteen year old?” Loki automatically moved his other leg to meet the chair leg when Tony reached for it. Maybe he was paying attention after all.

“The captain of the football team, who was trying to pretend he was straight.” Tony tied Loki’s second ankle to the chair leg, and tried to ignore the sound of protest from above him. He wasn’t offended by being tied up. He was offended for thirteen year old Tony. How cute. “I started high school when I was eleven, Loki. I was half done, and tired of being that weird little kid who hadn’t ever had sex.”

“But he must have been eighteen!” Loki was definitely offended on Tony’s behalf.

“Yeah. Five years difference. I’m twelve years older than you, Loki.” Tony wasn’t sure why he was defending the guy. It wasn’t the same at all, but Tony felt a sudden kinship with the man, who had used a lonely kid to try to ease his own alienation.

Loki glowered. “That is not the same. I’m old enough to make informed decisions. You’re doing what I ask you to. He was an adult taking advantage of a pre-pubescent boy.” He stuck his hands out, an offering for Tony to tie up. Jesus, the kid was incredible.

“I swear, you should be headed for law school.” He pulled up the last towel, and paused. Everything Loki had heard about his childhood had been terrible. “My life hasn’t been so bad, Loki. I’m pretty happy with how things have gone. I have a good education, I own my own house, and… I’m going home to see my parents this summer. I don’t want you thinking that I’m some kind of victim who’s taking out my perversions on you.”

“Fuck it all, Mr. Stark, how many times do I have to tell you that I’m not a victim?” When Tony went to open him mouth and protest, Loki put a finger to it. “If you’re taking out your sexual perversions on me, it makes me a victim. I’m not one. If anything, I’m the one taking advantage of you, putting you in a compromising situation and asking you to be okay with it.”

It was a fair point, and Tony couldn’t deny it. He also couldn’t really fault Loki for being a hormone-charged sixteen-year-old. At least he knew what he wanted, unlike so many teenagers. “Give me your hands.”

“Say I’m not a victim.” Loki tucked his hands under his arms.

Holding back a sigh, Tony nodded. “You’re not a victim. Now let me tie you up.” Without even looking like it was an out of the ordinary request, Loki held out his wrists. “Okay. Here’s the thing. If you wanted to, you could get away pretty easy right now, right?”

Loki looked at his still untied hands, and nodded with an expression on his face that said ‘duh.’

First, he gave Loki a light smack on the chest. “Important stuff to remember, smartass.” Then, Tony wrapped Loki’s wrists in the towel separately, and tied it. “Now?”

“Maybe. Since they’re in front of me, and I can see what I’m doing.” Loki answered, still not seeming the least bit nervous.

Tony untied his wrists, and received a confused look for his trouble. Then he re-tied Loki’s wrists with a tight slip knot in the middle. “Now?”

Loki just looked confused.

“Turn your right wrist, take that tab in your hand, and pull hard.” Loki did as instructed, and seemed surprised when the towel fell away. “Tying you up isn’t supposed to be about making you uncomfortable. It’s supposed to be a psychological thing, making you feel like I’m in charge, so you can let go of worrying about what’s going on. It makes everything that happens my responsibility.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me," Loki said, raising his eyebrows. "You really want more responsibility than you’re already trying to take for this? And you’re telling me about the psychology.” Handing the towel back, Loki held his wrists out to be tied again. He didn’t even hesitate to move his hands behind his back when Tony slid around behind the chair. “It is kind of hot, though.” Tony could hear the heat moving back into Loki’s voice. Hot, indeed.

Tony came back to kneel in front of the chair, and drink in the sight of Loki, tied to the chair where they’d been eating breakfast not ten minutes earlier. “Now if I gagged you, you’d be perfect.” Of course, it would be hard to fuck him in that position, but whatever.

As though reading his mind, Loki snorted. “Hardly. You can’t even see my ass. It’s my best feature, you know.” Then he got uncomfortable under Tony’s stare. He frowned. “Stop that. It’s weird.”

“Weird that I want to look at you?” His knees were going to hurt when this was over, but it was worth it. Tony smiled at his willful student. “Because I think there are a lot of people who’d like to see you like this.”

“I doubt that very much, unless it was for the purposes of humiliating me.” The chair jerked a little as Loki tested his bonds. “That isn’t what this is about, is it?” He looked a little panicked at the thought. “I told you I was sorry about this week!”

Pressing a finger to Loki’s lips, Tony smiled as gently as possible. “It’s not to embarrass you, Loki. You’re beautiful. I like looking at you. You don’t need to apologize anymore.” He put a hand on either of the boy’s knees, and pushed them apart a little more. “You remember the first rule we talked about this morning?”

There was a long pause as Loki thought. “Stop rushing everything?”

“That’s the one.” Tony reached out and took hold of Loki’s cock. It was wilted a bit with the fear of being tied up and embarrassed, but it wasn’t hard to stroke it back to full hardness. “Like I said before, it’s a very important lesson. So I think maybe you need an object lesson in taking things slow.”

“I completely understood it, that’s not necessary.” The look on Loki’s face was priceless. He was horrified and fascinated at the same time, and he obviously wasn’t sure which was more compelling. “You’re not going to leave me here like this, are you?”

Laughing out loud, Tony gave one more stroke before standing up. “Only long enough to grab a condom, I promise.” He turned to look at Loki when he reached the door. “If you can’t handle it, you know how to get yourself out of it.”

With that, he went back to his bedroom to get the necessary condom, secure in the knowledge that Loki was not going to untie himself. They both knew that he was manipulating Loki by his pride, but it didn’t make much difference when the pride was more important than the manipulation.

Sure enough, Loki was still sitting when he got back. He didn’t look amused, but he didn’t look nearly frustrated enough to try to leave. He scowled at Tony. “Took your time, didn’t you?”

“Sure did. Don’t make me rethink the whole ‘not gagging you’ thing.” Tony kneeled between Loki’s bare legs. It seemed that Loki was at least somewhat comfortable with the situation, since he was sitting with his legs spread wide open. Tony was reassured by the unconscious vote of confidence.

Catching Loki’s gaze with his eyes and holding it, Tony ripped the condom open and rolled it onto Loki’s cock, which somehow seemed to be getting even harder. There was probably only one thing Tony could do down there that required a condom, and they both knew it. Loki swallowed.

He continued to stroke Loki’s cock for a moment, watching Loki’s response. “Never had a blowjob before?” Loki shook his head vehemently, then flinched at the admission. Tony smiled indulgently at him. “It’s okay, Loki. We all start somewhere. You’re already pretty good at sucking cock.” Loki practically fucking _glowed_ at the mild praise. “It’s just as important to know what to do when someone is sucking _your_ cock.”

That caused no small amount of confusion. “It is? There’s something special you have to do?”

“Yes. Some pretty important somethings, actually.” Tony leaned down and sucked the head into his mouth for a few seconds, and was instantly rewarded with a gasp. Loki moaned when he pulled away, and tried to follow Tony’s mouth with his hips. “That, first and foremost.”

“That you’re trying to torture me?” Loki whined as though he were in pain.

Tony couldn’t help but laugh. Loki really had no idea. “That if they’re moving away, you let them.”

It took a minute for Loki to understand what he was talking about, but then he blushed profusely. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s fine, Loki. You asked me to teach you because you don’t know everything. I know that.” This time when Tony leaned down and sucked the cock into his mouth, Loki was careful not to move. Tony rewarded him by pushing all the way down, till it hit the back of his throat. _Not bad at all,_ he thought to himself; _either his cock_ or _my ability to take it all in._

Loki moaned loudly, and Tony felt the muscles in his legs quiver as he fought the instinct to rut forward into Tony’s face.

The kid learned fast, as always.

Tony sucked firmly as he came back up, and then smiled at Loki when he pulled back. “Good job.” He stroked Loki’s cock lightly with his hand, and continued the lesson. “In the same line, someday when you’re married, if you and your partner decide to forego condoms-”

“We can do that? My… partner… and I, I mean?” Loki looked so hopeful.

Too funny. Well, at least his lessons were being taken to heart. Tony nodded. “If you’re both clean and you’re only going to be sleeping with each other, I don’t see why not.”

“But we’re both ‘clean’, and…” Loki bit his lip self-consciously. “I’m not sleeping with anyone else.”

That face and voice were so damned adorable that Tony was afraid he was going to die of it. Could you get diabetes from mental sugar overloads? “And neither am I. But do you know that?”

“You just told me.” Loki looked completely nonplussed.

It just wasn’t possible that someone so jaded about his own parents could be so innocent about the things men would do to get sex. “How do you know I’m not lying, Loki?”

More confusion. “Why would you?”

Tony sighed. Well, it was a good point. The problem was that too many people were assholes who would lie about it. “You have to trust me on this, Loki. I might not be lying. Most people might not lie about it. But you only need one person to lie, and you have to live with the consequences forever.”

The boy’s voice dropped an octave, and he echoed, “Forever.” Then he shuddered. “Okay. I get it. Are you um… are you actually going to…?”

It was impossible for Tony to completely stifle his grin. He stroked Loki’s cock languidly and smiled up at him. “You’re finally catching on, Green Eyes.”

“What? You’re… you’re not?” Loki’s expression was something between confusion and horror.

So Tony took a minute to respond. And he responded by leaning back down and taking Loki into his mouth again, bobbing up and down on that painfully hard cock. Loki moaned loudly and tensed again in the effort to keep from moving. When he succeeded, Tony took him all the way in again, and when he felt the head hit the back of his throat, he started swallowing. Loki cried out, and jerked slightly away in the effort to keep from pushing forward. Tony released him and pulled off, sucking hard as he did.

“N-No! You… you’re doing that on purpose.” The realization was so sudden Tony swore he could almost see a light bulb come on over Loki’s head.

Tony grinned up at him lazily, reaching out to slowly continue stroking. Every time Loki tried to press into his hand to get more friction, he moved away a little more. “What makes you think that?”

Loki scowled. “The fact that you are!”

For a few moments, Tony just stroked, and let the boy think about it. As Tony has expected, Loki let himself be distracted by the hand, dissatisfying though it was. He started actively trying not to push up into it, and Tony rewarded him with a firmer hand. This drew a moan.

“Please…” came the whispered plea after a few minutes of this.

“Please?” Tony gave him his best innocent look. He wondered how long it would take before Loki broke, untied himself, and used his own hand to finish the job.

Smoldering eyes stared down at him. He suspected Loki was trying to read his cues, figure out what answer Tony wanted and give it so that he could have what he wanted. Tony decided to be an ass, and make it harder. He leaned in and swallowed Loki’s cock whole again, then he spent a few seconds bobbing up and down on it. When it hit the back of his throat again, he hummed for a second, and Loki almost lost it.

So Tony pulled away.

“What?” Loki stared at him in horrified astonishment again. “Are you trying to kill me?”

Tony glanced at the clock on the microwave. Ten minutes. Not terrible. “What’s today’s lesson again?”

“I—” Loki froze, and stared at him. “Stop rushing." His face fell. "Oh Gods, Mr. Stark, how long are you going to make me wait?”

“That depends. How long do you think you _can_ wait?” Tony started stroking again, slowly, and lazily. He looked up at Loki questioningly.

The wide-eyed whimper Loki gave was utterly priceless.

It took some effort to school his features, but it was worth it. “You think you can hold out another five minutes?”

Another whimper. Then Loki pulled his shoulders back, looked at the clock, and nodded.

Well hell, the determination alone deserved another reward. Tony licked a stripe down the bottom of Loki’s shaft, and when his tongue reached the base, he kept going. He ran it down Loki’s scrotum, opening his mouth and applying just a bit of suction. With his right hand, he kept up those long, slow strokes. Loki closed his eyes and let his head fall back, losing himself to the sensation.

“Did you think about me, while you were off in California?” Tony asked, realizing full well how self-serving and bizarrely inappropriate the question was. He didn’t know why he couldn’t keep an even slightly professional or adult façade up around Loki. Well, it might have something to do with running his tongue over the other man’s balls. He glanced at the clock. Four minutes.

Eyes scrunched tightly closed, Loki nodded.

Sensing weakness, Tony leapt at the opportunity. “Did your ass hurt?”

“Mmmm… yes. Yes, it hurt. Yes, it made me think of you every time I sat down. Yes… Oh please, please don’t stop!” Loki’s legs were trembling with the exertion necessary to keep himself in check, and his voice was quavering with want.

Tony kept up the same slow motions. “Did you jerk off in the hotel bathroom, thinking about my cock in you?”

Loki laughed out loud, and before Tony had time to get offended, he spoke. “The hotel bathroom? Try the hotel bathroom, the hotel bed, the theme park bathroom, and once almost in a dark theater.”

Ah yes. Teenage hormones. Tony had almost forgotten what that felt like. He did not miss it in the least. It had been wild and thrilling, sure, but he liked being in some small measure of control. Miniscule, but existent. He glanced at the clock again. Three minutes.

 “A dozen times, at least.” Loki paused then, pulling his head up and looking at Tony nervously. “I even, um… You know.” His face flushed a beautiful pink.

“Do I?” Tony licked his way back up Loki’s cock, and was repaid with barely-controlled whimpers.

Loki grimaced as though in pain, but sighed and nodded. “You’re going to make me say things like this, aren’t you? Every time?”

Tony gave the cockhead a quick suck, and grinned. “Yes. Every time. Better you telling me what you did than you being too embarrassed to tell me what you liked so much that you recreated it for yourself.”

The response to this was a heavy, defeated sigh.

A sigh was not the answer he was looking for, so he decided to… inspire Loki by picking up the pace and intensity of his strokes.

“Ohhhhh… Mr. Stark, that’s che… chea… cheating!” Loki struggled to get even the few words out, so Tony slowed, slightly. The words that tumbled from Loki then were more than worth it. “I used my fingers the way you did. Or I tried to. I can’t do it like you can.”

“Want me to do it again?” Tony gave the tip of Loki’s cock another little suck. Two minutes.

Loki groaned, and nodded vehemently in answer.

“Good. Because I want to.” He broke off and sucked Loki’s cock into his mouth again. ‘Want to’, he said. Want to, like he wanted to eat his next meal. He’d dreamed of it. Of that scene in the shower. Of Loki riding him. Hell, of riding Loki. That was an odd thing for Tony to be dreaming about. For some reason, despite the fact that he didn’t much like to be ‘bottom’, he found that he wanted to see what it was like in this instance.

Tony bobbed up and down on Loki’s cock for a while, neither fast nor slow. Loki held himself back rather well, for someone who had probably never tried it before. It was time to show him that, though. Loki needed to know that he wasn’t infallible. Tony needed Loki to realize that he needed more practice, and he needed him to know that Tony knew how to make his body come undone. Tony also decided not to examine why it was that he needed those things.

He sped his pace suddenly, sucking every time he started to pull his head back.

Unsurprisingly, Loki noticed. “Mr… Mr. Stark! You… I… minute left!”

“Mmmm?” Tony hummed around Loki’s shaft, looking up with mock innocence on his face.

When Loki looked down at him, his mouth fell open. Tony knew how he looked, kneeling between Loki’s legs with a cock halfway down his throat. An image like that by itself had made more than one man come. For Loki, Tony gave some extra effort. He pushed all the way down, then hollowed his cheeks as he pulled back off, sucking a little harder.

Loki, apparently unable to verbalize his feelings on the matter, just moaned loudly.

While maintaining eye contact, Tony pushed all the way back down, and started swallowing around Loki’s cock.

Loki gave in. He let his head fall back again as his whole body convulsed in orgasm. Unconsciously, his body bucked up into Tony’s mouth, pushing against the back of his throat. It was a little hard to fault, since Tony had spent fifteen minutes slowly coaxing him to the mountain top, and then pushed him forcefully over the edge.

When Loki started to come back down, his hips jerked back quite suddenly, and he turned wide eyes back to Tony. “Oh… Oh no, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Tony tried hard to stifle it, but he just couldn’t hide his laughter. Loki looked unsure of whether to be offended or relieved. “Christ, Loki, you’re tied up. Do you really think you could have done that if I hadn’t let you?”

Loki didn’t look convinced. “But you said—”

“I know what I said. I meant it.” He rubbed Loki’s thighs consolingly. “But I pushed you hard. I knew what you might do, and I was ready for you. I’m teaching you, Loki. I don’t expect perfection on a first try." He winked. "I just expect you to try again.”

Loki grinned widely. “I can definitely do that, Mr. Stark.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, back to smut. I snuck in some character development and feels, though, because it wouldn't be frostiron without at least feels.


	10. science-shy

Given the sudden appearance of bondage in the mix, and the fact that Loki had asked to learn about some slightly less casual methods of tying people up, Tony had decided that the next order of business was educating Loki about safewords.

“So you pick something that you’re never going to say during the course of sex,” Tony coached him as he demonstrated a basic two column tie, “but also something that you’re comfortable saying.”

“ _Comfortable saying_?” Loki looked nonplussed.

Tony nodded emphatically. “Comfortable saying. Like, I know you’d never bring up Odin in the bedroom, but if you needed me to stop, would you want to say his name?”

The look on Loki’s face was all the answer necessary.

“So,” he prodded further, “something you’re comfortable saying. Apples, Isaac Newton, New York… You’re not going to say them during sex, but they won’t make you feel disgusting if you feel like you need to put a stop to what we’re doing.” He untied the rope on Loki’s arms, and motioned for Loki to try it himself.

The explanation on safewords was obviously clearer to Loki. “Ah. And saying… that name… while having sex would be disgusting.” He nodded decisively. “How about… Physics?” Loki grinned like the obnoxious little shit he was.

How Tony had failed to see that coming, he had no idea. “Physics it is.”

“Do you need a safeword?” Loki asked softly, as he practiced tying the new knot around Tony’s wrists. It looked as though he was worried about the answer.

“Sure.” Tony answered immediately, and then he was pleased to find that it seemed to be the answer Loki wanted. “You never know when it’ll come in handy. Why don’t we just stick with Physics, keep things simple?”

Loki grinned at him. “How about this?” He motioned toward the finished knot expectantly.

Tony tested the knot and smiled. “Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’re a natural at tying people in knots?”

“So when do I get to tie you up for real?” Loki asked in that deliberately seductive tone that drove Tony crazy.

They stared at each other for a moment, and Tony swore he could almost feel an electric charge in the air. Then he shrugged. “Maybe if you get to your final exam, hm?”

Loki started undoing the knots, deliberately slowly. “Well then, I’ll have to do very well in the rest of the class to make sure that I rate high enough to get an exam.”

“Funny you should say that, I can think of a few ways for you to improve your grade right now…” Tony grinned across the bed at him, and leaned back until he was lying down. “Ever ridden a horse? Because this is a lot more fun than that.” He patted his lap.

 

*

 

Friday passed in a blur of sex, 'teaching', and Loki making an amazing dinner for two, then unfortunately having to leave. Tony was reasonably sure that it was unhealthy how much he didn’t want Loki to go.

 _Seriously, dumbass?_ His brain opted to remind him as he watched Loki’s car turn down the drive. _Every single thing you did today was unhealthy. Sex with a student? Unhealthy. Bondage with a student? Unhealthy. Bondage lessons? Fucking bizarre and unhealthy. More sex, and then more after that?_

Oh fuck it all, he gave up. It was unhealthy and horrible, and that wasn’t going to stop anything. In fact, Tony was reasonably sure that the only thing that would stop this train was when Loki inevitably lost interest, as teenagers were prone to doing. He pretended that it didn’t bother him, assuming that Loki was going to lose interest in him and leave. Exactly whom he was pretending for, he wasn’t sure. He certainly wasn’t fooling himself.

This was why Tony had stopped dating. It was too stressful, and it seemed like best way to know that you were getting it right was if your whole world got turned on its ear. Well his world had sure been tossed. And somehow, he was still going to bed alone.

Loki couldn’t spend the weekend coming to see Tony; he needed to go be with his family. They had discussed it at length, and Loki had even agreed with him. The last thing they needed was Loki’s family getting concerned about what their troublemaker was up to when he disappeared for the whole day, every single day.

Instead of being reassured by the fact that Loki had been out of town, and he hadn’t yet and wasn’t going to call the police, Tony wondered if prison might have been a better end. He’d have gotten punished, as he was still rather convinced that he deserved. More importantly, it would be over. No uncertainty, no need to worry about whether Hill would somehow discover him and what would happen then. Just finished, all of it.

And no more Loki, ever again.

Okay, no, that wasn’t better. That was much, much worse.

He was so screwed.

 

*

 

Getting in his car to drive to school on Monday was like asking him to drive himself into hell, only without the fun on the way there. No sex, drugs and rock and roll for Tony. Nope. Okay, well that wasn’t completely true. He did play AC/DC on the way there. Just no sex or drugs. Of course, with a little imagination, he could summon up an image of Loki… no, probably not the best idea on his way to work.

He stepped out of his car to be immediately confronted by a gaggle of teenage girls.

“Nice car, Mr. Stark,” some blonde giggled at him.

He was never sure in these situations whether the girl in question was trying to flirt or whether she found it amusing that someone other than a sixteen year old might own a hot car. What, was he supposed to drive a BMW like is father? Ew.

So he always just opted to assume that it was flirting, and shut it down. He started to open his mouth when her little friend — also blonde and giggly — jumped in.

“You could totally give us a _ride_ anytime, Mr. Stark,” she purred slyly. Now that one, he knew was dangerous.

“He likes _classic_ cars, Andrea, not _used_ ones.” Loki’s voice came from one side before Tony could even try to formulate a proper answer. “I sincerely doubt he has any interest in a car that half the senior class has already had a ride in.”

Her eyes narrowed and she rounded on Loki, and Tony was pretty sure he was about to witness a catfight in the parking lot. “Okay, all, as lovely as this conversation is, I think we all have classes in about ten minutes.” He used the hand that wasn’t full of coffee to motion them all to go, and stood back to watch as they did.

“See you in class, Mr. Stark,” Loki said as he passed by. “Looking forward to it.”

Tony snorted. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

 

*

 

At 2:30 in the afternoon, Tony’s last class of the day started. He hadn’t expected Loki to suddenly be excited about Physics, but he had kind of expected him to show up for class. Even at his worst, he hadn’t skipped class very often. Usually only on test days, in fact.

Pulling himself out of the pointless reverie, Tony shook his head to clear it, and started on the lesson plan.

Five minutes late, Loki showed up dragging Fandral behind him. “Sorry Mr. Stark. Fandral was hiding in the closet, because he didn’t want to take his makeup test.” Pausing, Loki seemed to realize that he’d given himself the perfect setup. “And friends don’t let friends stay in the closet, you know. I had to help him out.”

Fandral made a noise of protest, but didn’t actually deny that it was the case. When his eyes met Tony’s though, he turned bright red, and his gaze immediately dropped to the floor. “I’m sorry, Mr. Stark. I didn’t mean to—”

“You’re fine, Blondie. You can do the test later.” Tony made a mental point of not saying that he knew Loki hadn’t helped the kid study. There was no reason he would know that. “Your midterm grade is what it is. If you can do better for the rest of the year, you can pull out a passing grade.”

“Th-thank you, Sir.” The kid managed to choke out, apparently shocked that Tony seemed content to let the previous Saturday pass unmentioned.

Tony thought for a minute about how to get his point across without saying anything obvious. He shrugged. “I did stupid shit when I was in high school, too. Pretty much everybody does. Try to make sure it’s not stupid illegal shit, and you’ll be fine.”

Laugher went around the room, and Tony turned the subject back to Physics. Thank goodness it was his mostly-Senior class, who weren’t scandalized by him treating them like adults. It was always the younger ones who didn’t know what to do with a teacher who wasn’t into hand-holding. That was why he’d specialized in Physics, so hopefully most of his students would be at least Juniors.

Less than an hour later, everyone was filing out the door, except for Loki and Fandral.

Tony raised an eyebrow at them. “Something wrong?”

Fandral hesitantly came to the front of the room, keeping a few feet away from Tony’s desk. “Could I… um, Loki helped me study yesterday. Could I take the makeup test?”

“Now, Blondie?” Tony was stunned. Not only had Loki helped, but he wanted to do the test? “Well hell, why not?”

“I told you it would be fine.” Loki came up behind him and sprawled across a desk up front. “I have to wait, I’m his ride home.”

Fandral blushed. “You could go to the library or something, Loki. We… we don’t have to be here _together_.”

Loki turned a lazy grin on the poor kid and started to open his mouth.

“You know what?" Tony said, interrupting whatever pearl had been about to drop from Loki's mouth, "I think he’s right. Why don’t you go wait in my office, Loki? He can take the test in peace, and you can get a head start on your homework.” Tony gave Loki a sharp look, daring him to question.

Loki didn’t even open his mouth, for an odd change. He just grinned, grabbed his backpack, and sauntered into Tony’s office. Tony had the distinct feeling that Loki had no intention of doing his homework in there.

He tried not to think about Loki’s fantasy of blowing him in his office.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark.” Fandral’s quiet voice dragged Tony’s attention back where it belonged. “And… I really am sorry about what happened.” He swallowed hard. “Thank you for not telling Miss Hill.”

Suddenly, Tony felt bad for thinking anything nasty about the kid. He was a pretty decent kid, whether he was ever going to impress anyone with his brain or not. “Don’t worry about it. What happens in Physics stays in Physics. You sure you’re ready for the test?”

“I think so.” Then he frowned again. “Loki only had me study a few things, though. If he already took the test—”

Tony laughed. “Little bastard had you study the answers.” When Fandral turned red again, Tony decided that a little bit of seriousness was in order. “Why are you in this class, Fandral? I don’t think you’re stupid, but it’s obvious that science isn’t your favorite thing.”

“I c-couldn’t pass Chemistry. Took it twice.” He sniffed, and Tony realized that there were tears in his eyes. “This is my second year as a Senior, Mr. Stark. I was su-supposed to graduate with Loki’s brother last year, but I couldn’t get the science credit. I’m failing Chemistry again, and Physics, and Zoology right now.”

Wow. Tony didn’t know what to say to that. The tears in Fandral’s eyes were threatening to spill over, though, and Tony didn’t want to compound the poor kid’s shame any more. “Well you give this test a shot, Fandral. I think you’ll be surprised.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Another sniffle followed Tony into the office, where Loki was sitting at his desk, feet up.

“Let me guess, you asked him about science.” Loki sounded bored, but for some reason, Tony thought it was faked. Something in the deliberately too-relaxed line of his body seemed wrong.

Knocking Loki’s feet off his desk, he motioned the kid out of his chair, pointing to another chair in the room. Loki shrugged and moved.

Then Tony sat down and watched Loki. “Tell me about science.”

“It started with Biology their Freshman year.” Loki shrugged half-heartedly — another put on. This was obviously important to Loki, but either he didn’t want it to be, or he didn’t want to admit it. “Thor told me he did fine until they asked him to dissect something or another, and he didn’t want to. The teacher made him cry in front of the whole class, and everyone called him ‘crybaby’ for the rest of the year.”

“Fucking teenagers.” Tony leaned back in his chair until the back of his head almost whacked the desk. “I really hate those assholes some days.”

Loki snorted. “Tell me about it.”

“So he’s actually a friend of your brother’s?” That was unexpected. Tony didn’t remember even meeting Loki’s brother. He must not have been one of Tony’s students. He was pretty sure he’d remember another student like Loki.

“Yes.” The answering nod was even more confused than the rest of his body-language. “Well, kind of. He’s the only one of Thor’s friends who isn’t a complete jackass. And now that he won’t be graduating until I do…”

Tony shook his head. “He’ll still need one semester of science, but he should be able to pull out one semester this year. That’ll put him graduating in December next year.”

“So, at the same time as me.” Loki reiterated.

Bringing his feet up to land on his desk with a thunk, Tony frowned at Loki. “So my class is the only one you’ve completely screwed around in.” If he was graduating a semester early, there was no way he’d been screwing around like that in all his classes.

“Not exactly.” Loki shifted uneasily in his chair. “Just kind of.”

Unimpressed, Tony just waited for further elucidation.

“I usually get okay grades.” He pushed his backpack behind his feet protectively. Interesting.

“But not in my class?” Tony was surprised to find himself curious, instead of annoyed. “Something wrong with physics?”

“No, Physics is fine. I should probably work on my homework.” Loki turned in the chair, and reached for his bag.

Tony chuckled. “How conscientious of you.”

Loki actually proceeded to pull out his book and start on his homework. Tony wasn’t sure whether to be surprised, offended, or pleased. He turned to his computer, sending in his attendance for the day, and then going over the next day’s lesson plans. It took all of ten minutes. Nothing that needed to be printed, and nothing that needed questions prepared. Basically, all he had to do was wait for Fandral to finish.

“Your brother’s friends have stopped talking to him, now that he’s graduating a year and a half late. Presuming that he gets that science credit next fall.” Tony jumped back into the conversation right where they had dropped it earlier.

The response was practically a growl. “They’re such assholes. They act like they’re so much smarter than he is, even though some of them barely passed. Thor is the only one who even tries to talk to him anymore. He’s worried about him.”

There was a venom in Loki’s voice that Tony hadn’t heard there before, and it started to tie the whole situation together. “Your brother asked you to take care of him, and you’re dicking around and getting a D in my class to make him feel better.”

The shock on Loki’s face was all the answer Tony needed.

His self-absorbed little brat was trying to help someone out, without anyone knowing that he was being helpful. It made Loki’s father’s attitude even more confusing. Tony liked to think that if he had a son who was suddenly failing his first class, he’d try to figure out why, not just tell the teacher that it was a good thing someone was teaching his son a lesson.

Hell, Howard wouldn’t have done that, and he’d been all about forcing Tony to be more independent.

“Can he do summer school?” Tony asked conversationally.

Loki shook his head. “No. His parents paid for it one year, but then he failed the classes.”

Tony nodded. “He should enroll in Physics again next fall. I think he can do it.”

“Who can?” Bruce, Tony’s office-mate, asked as he walked in. Thank gods they’d been having a conversation, and nothing more… compromising.

“Fandral.” Tony answered simply.

Bruce gave him a look that said he was crazy.

That gave Tony a moment’s pause. “Is he in your Zoology class? I know he didn’t take Biology with you.”

“Yes he is, and no he didn’t. How do you know?” Bruce dropped his book on the desk and sat down with a sigh.

“He must have had you-know-who for Bio. So he’s science-shy, now.” Tony didn’t like naming names among colleagues, but some people seemed to get into teaching as a way to control and/or traumatize people, and it pissed him off. Come to think of it, it pissed most teachers off, since it gave them all a bad name.

Bruce frowned. If there was one thing he hated, Tony knew, it was bullies who made life difficult for kids.

So that gave Tony an opening. “Any way he can pull out a D in your class?”

Bruce considered for a moment. “Yeah. It would take some doing, but I think we could figure it out.”

“What?” Loki was staring at the two of them.

“We don’t actively want people to fail, Loki.” Tony turned back to him. “And without _your_ influence, I suspect Fandral’s actually a good kid.”

Loki just grinned at that.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, and gave Tony a look that said ‘ _did you really just say that to a student_?’

Tony grinned back. “Yeah. I think we’ll just see if we can’t get Fandral out of here this year after all. It’s gonna take some extra work, though.” Tony looked hard at Loki. “You gonna help him study?”

“I’m not taking Zoology!” Loki frowned at the encroachment on his free time.

Bruce shrugged dismissively at that. “You took my Bio class two years ago, Loki, you’re really good at this. I’m sure you can help him if you want.”

“And I’ll make sure that your grades with me don’t drop,” Tony added.

Loki looked over at him. “I can turn in my homework at the end of the week?”

Tony tried not to smile. “Don’t see why not.”

“Deal,” Loki said decisively. “Give me his homework, and I’ll see that he takes care of it.”

Bruce printed out a packet of work that looked a bit excessive to Tony, but then he informed them that this was everything for the rest of the year. Tony gave him a list of everything Fandral needed to do, and some extra credit.

That was when there was a knock on the door. Loki was weighed down with extra paper, so Tony opened the door to find a nervous looking Fandral holding his test in both hands. “I... I think I’m finished, Mr. Stark.” He looked confused.

“Was it too hard?” Tony was nervous. It was about as easy as he could make a test, and still have it be about physics. If Fandral couldn’t pass that even with Loki’s help, they were in trouble before they started.

Fandral sounded a little shocked when he said, “No. It… it wasn’t. But—”

“No buts!” Tony insisted, grabbing the test from the kid before he could start second-guessing himself. “Thank you very much for coming to take the makeup. Loki, I think we have a plan, yes?”

“Yes. And Fandral and I have work to do, so we’d better be off.” Loki held up the arm of paperwork, and Fandral’s eyes went wide. He tried to say something, but Loki cut him off. “Not now, Fandral, unless you want even more homework. Lets go!”

Fandral nodded, and the two of them headed out.

Loki stopped in the classroom door and looked back and Tony. “You did promise that my grade wouldn’t suffer. I’m planning on getting the hell out of my family’s house in December, and I can’t do that if I’m still in high school.”

“Trust me on this, Loki. I have no interest in ruining your plans.” Tony leaned in the doorframe as he watched them leave. “I’ll be expecting your homework at the end of the week.”

On Saturday, in fact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now with even more plot! Seriously, though, I decided that a non-smutty subplot made me happy.


	11. under the table

By the time Friday rolled around, Tony was convinced that Loki should be the one teaching his class. Fandral had brought in two weeks’ worth of late homework over the course of the week. It wasn’t good enough for him to have copied Loki’s work, but it showed amazing progress from even his test grade. Interestingly, Bruce indicated that the work for his class was even better.

It broke Tony’s teacher heart a little to think that the kid might have some natural talent, and was just terrified of being made to look like a fool again. He wondered how many kids that age had given up on a subject they loved because of either a bad teacher, or assholes for classmates.

Loki didn’t seem to notice or care about the change, he just continued his usual act in class. He flirted like mad, grinned when Tony rolled his eyes at him, and ignored the lessons. He kept right on playing with a notebook the way he had all year, and Tony continued to be certain that he wasn’t writing Physics notes.

On Friday afternoon, though, Tony was a little concerned. Loki had put his notebook down, and seemed to be paying attention. It was strange, but Tony felt that somehow this was a bad thing.

He set the class to work on a problem, and a second later, his phone buzzed in his pocket.

It was a text message from an unknown number: _You look hot today._

Frowning, Tony didn’t even think it all the way through before responding. _Who is this?_

 _Guess. But first, write a problem on the board below the others_ , came the almost immediate reply.

 _Why would I do that?_ Okay, Tony wasn’t stupid, he got a clue pretty quickly when given enough information. But where the hell had Loki gotten his phone number? And how had he known that Loki paying attention was a bad thing?

Tony looked up to see the completely characteristic smirk on Loki’s face. _Because when you write a problem on the bottom of the board, you have to bend all the way over._

 _And these are the things you learn in my class?_ Tony was only slightly annoyed, but he made a point of frowning at the message.

 _Don’t sell yourself short. They’re the most useful things I’ve ever learned anywhere._ Loki deliberately pulled a red lollipop out of his backpack, and slowly peeled the wrapper off before sticking his tongue out to give it a lick. Tony should have known better than to tell him the Winter Break Jeans story.

 _I thought you weren’t trying to get me fired?_ Tony tried to convince himself not to look up at his smirking student, but it was a losing battle. He kept looking the rest of his class over, convinced that they were watching this exchange. They were all busy with the actual classwork, though, not worried about harassing Tony.

Loki took a long vigorous suck on his chosen torture device as he considered the message and responded. _What on earth is wrong? I can’t imagine how anything I’m doing could possibly hurt your career._

Tony set his phone upside down on his book, and stood to face the class again. Well two could play this game.

“Okay, guys, homework is going up on the board.” A collective groan went through the class, and Tony grinned broadly the moment his back was turned. Then, he deliberately dropped the dry-erase marker on the floor. “Crap.”

Slowly bending over at the waist, he took as long as possible picking it up off the floor, his ass in full view of anyone looking. He hadn’t worn particularly tight jeans, but he doubted that it mattered to Loki. After he picked the marker up, he wrapped his lips around the cap and pulled the marker out. Again, not something he thought most of the class would even notice, let alone find to be sexual in nature, but the show wasn’t for them. Loki was thinking about sex already, and he’d pick up on the tiniest cues imaginable. So Tony was sending out big ones.

“Damn.” He frowned at the marker when it failed to write, like he hadn’t deliberately picked the one that had stopped working before he finished writing the first problem of the day. He turned and pretended to scan the classroom. “Loki, since you aren't doing anything. You wanna go over to the room next door and get me some more whiteboard markers?”

Sure enough, the kid’s eyes were unfocused, and pointed more toward Tony’s lips than his eyes. “Um… huh?”

“Markers?” Tony waggled the marker around in his hand expectantly. Then he sighed dramatically. “Okay, how about someone who’s paying attention?” He pointed at a random student and motioned toward the door. The kid went running.

He sauntered over to the table where Loki and Fandral sat together, leaning over to look at what they were doing. Predictably, Loki’s notebook was immediately turned over. Fandral looked uncomfortable, but just sat there quietly. While Tony didn’t think that Loki would give a damn about it, he wasn’t going to traumatize Fandral by calling Loki out too hard in the middle of class. Instead, he just put his hands on his hips to draw attention to his crotch, gave Loki his best ‘I’m the boss of you, and I’m unimpressed’ look, and went back to write homework problems on the board when the student came running back with markers.

When he returned to his desk, there was a new text on his phone. _You win. Now all I can think about is you sucking my cock._

He decided he’d wait to do his smirking until after class was over.

When the bell rang, Tony waved everyone off with a vague “Have a nice weekend,” and grabbed a pile of homework to be graded before heading into his office. A few minutes after he arrived in his office, he realized that he’d left his phone in the classroom. Thinking little of it, he headed back out to find Fandral giving Loki a lecture.

“If he doesn’t know you have a crush on him by now, Loki, he’s blind.” He was shoving books and papers into his bag while he spoke. “And I get it. He’s hot. But he’s not going to risk his whole life to get a little ass on the side. Not even if he is bi, like he said.”

Loki was giving an impressive approximation of pouting. “You don’t know that. Maybe he’s deliberately not paying attention. Or maybe students hit on him so often that he doesn’t even notice anymore. Some dance team girl was hitting on him in the parking lot on Monday, and he just looked a little annoyed.”

Tony was most amused by the fact that the girl — Andrea? — had lost her name to the retelling of the story. He twisted the doorknob loudly and strode into the room. “Hey, what are you two still doing here? Did you need help with something, Fandral?”

Fandral nearly jumped at Tony’s abrupt entrance, almost more concerned than he had been two weeks earlier, and shook his head. “No, Sir! I was just about to go.”

Nodding thoughtfully, Tony went over the where his phone was still sitting on the desk before responding. “That was some good work from you this week, Fandral. Keep going like this, and you’ll end up a scientist yet.” He opted not to mention the delayed graduation, if only to avoid getting Fandral’s hopes up before they were sure he could bump his grade enough to graduate.

Fandral chuckled self-deprecatingly, and shook his head. “I’ll never be smart enough for science, Mr. Stark. I’m no good at math.”

“Hey now, the guy who invented the electric motor was no good at math. Didn’t stop him from doing what he wanted with his life.” Tony stuffed his phone in his pocket and stopped for long enough to look Fandral dead in the eye. “Don’t let anybody tell you what you’re capable of doing with your life. Do what you want.”

Loki cleared his throat, demanding the attention for himself. Primadonna. “Mr. Stark, I had a question about problem number fifteen on Tuesday’s homework.”

At that, Fandral looked a little distressed, and took his leave. “Um, yeah… I’ll see you Sunday, Loki?”

“Mmhmm, Sunday” Loki waved a dismissive hand, but his eyes followed Fandral’s slow exit. “Now if the density is constant, I really don’t see why—” When the door closed behind his friend, Loki sighed in relief. “Fuck, for a minute I was afraid he was going to stick around.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll bet. I’d like to hear what you were gonna say if he did, though. I don’t think density was even a factor in Tuesday’s homework.”

Shrugging, Loki grabbed his own bag and instead of the exit, he headed for the door to Tony’s office. “Wouldn’t know, haven’t done it.”

“And you’re planning on continuing your other lessons tomorrow how?” Tony inquired, following the teenager into his own office. He didn’t even try to fool himself into thinking that it wouldn’t mean anything to him if Loki quit. Two weeks into this mess, and he had just accepted that the thought of Loki failing to follow through on the deal bothered him. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but that didn’t mean that Tony was going to be okay with it.

When Loki got into his office, he dropped his bag next to the desk and grinned. “Oh please, Mr. Stark. One week of homework in a night is easy. Besides, _someone_ offered up all my free time for tutoring Fandral.”

“Tragic for your social life, I’m sure.” Tony responded with equal snark as he dropped into his office chair.

Loki came around to stand in front of him, then dropped to his knees and pulled a condom out of his back pocket. “Oh, I don’t know about that. I’d say that my social life has never been better.”

Tony tried half-heartedly to push Loki away. “You do remember that I share this office, right?”

“Sure. I also know that Doctor Banner usually goes home at three on Fridays, because he doesn’t have a seventh hour class.” With that definitive answer, he slid around so that he was between the chair and desk, and undid Tony’s fly with lightning-fast efficiency.

Before Tony even had a chance to respond, Loki was rolling the condom onto him — and his cock wasn’t hesitant about what was to come at all. When Loki’s mouth slid down around him, it was a warm slice of heaven that he just couldn’t imagine turning down anymore.

Loki was becoming an old hand at blowjobs. Tony tried not to think of Loki’s growing skill and experience as his fault. Fault was such a nasty word. Surely Loki didn’t think of it as a bad thing? And if Loki didn’t see it as bad, then why the hell was he trying to justify it in his mind?

 _There’s no excuse for what you’re doing,_ the broken remnants of his moral compass were screaming in his ear. _You’re taking advantage of a teenage boy and his perfectly natural curiosity about sex!_

And yet… Loki’s points were valid, too, weren’t they? Hadn’t thirteen year old Tony been within his rights to start having sex? Did he look back on it as a bad experience because of his age, or because it had been a bad experience?

What the hell was he doing debating philosophy and ethics in his head when there was a mouth on his cock? He looked down to find Loki giving him a half-hearted licking while watching his face. “I was wondering when you’d come back to me.”

“Sorry.” Tony cleared his throat and went to say more, but he was cut off by Loki taking his whole cock in one go. Then he was trapped somewhere between the desperate urge to moan, and the jealous demand that formed in the back of his mind about how Loki had learned _that_ without him. He’d still been struggling with it last time they’d been together.

When Loki pulled up a bit for air a few seconds later, he was searching Tony’s face for approval — or disapproval.

How could he respond to the obvious request for feedback, when everything that was going through his head was as incoherent as the moan that found its way from between his lips?

And that was when the door on the opposite side of the office opened.

With all the finesse of someone who found himself in trouble quite often, Loki slid gracefully beneath Tony’s desk, and pulled Tony’s chair in after him. His hot little mouth never even disconnected from Tony’s cock.

With all the finesse of someone who sucked at lying and had no ability to hide anything, Tony grabbed the stack of homework on his desk, and pretended that he was looking at the top page. He clumsily grabbed for the closest writing utensil, and tried to look slightly less surprised than he was about his office-mate’s presence.

“Bruce? I figured you’d be gone for the day.” His voice sounded too high and squeaky to himself, and he tried to not react to it.

Bruce looked up from the paper in his hands — thank goodness he hadn’t been looking at Tony when he walked in — and smiled. “Yeah, normally I would, but I got distracted. Got my midterm research papers in sixth hour today, and I started grading them.”

“Of course you did.” Tony was thinking, _because I can’t catch one fucking break,_ but what came out was thankfully different: “Anything good?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.” Bruce pulled out his desk chair without even looking, and sat down.

That was about when Loki started moving again, his body warm and solid between his legs. The little bastard was going to keep sucking him? Oh yes, he certainly was. Tony bit his lip and held the sheet of homework in front of his face so that Bruce wouldn’t see his expression. Loki’s tongue traced a few quick circles around the head of his cock, and then he wrapped his lips around the shaft and pressed down.

Tony tried to hide a gasp in a sigh, and then tried to hide that in conversation. “You know, just once, I’d like to see a research paper on something different. Even the good ones always pick the same tired subjects, though.”

Nodding, Bruce thumbed through his stack. “Evolution, evolution, the history of the zoo — from that kid who comes to class once a week, evolution, urban wildlife — from the kid who found her topic online and thinks it’s clever, oh yeah, and evolution.”

Tony chortled, happy for what had to be the thousandth time that, unlike Bruce, he didn’t assign a research paper. He’d given up on that pretty fast when he’d realized that the good students didn’t get much out of it, and the bad ones didn’t put much into it. Bruce was an eternal optimist, though.

He was quickly distracted from his smug superiority by the mouth on his dick. Loki was moving slowly up and down his length, increasing the suction every time he started to pull away. It was like slow torture, in the best possible way. Tony had to concentrate in order to exchange the pen he’d picked up for his red pencil without snapping it, and then he pretended to be absorbed in calculations.

With luck, he could avoid screaming like a banshee when Loki brought him off right in front of his office-mate and friend. Bruce wouldn’t be a friend for long, if he knew that there was a student under the desk with his mouth on Tony’s cock. He already thought that Tony’s drinking and college sex stories were too risqué for him, but this? This was straight out of a particularly bad porno.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Bruce sounded disgusted, and Tony had to remind himself that his friend didn’t already know about Loki. Still, his whole body tensed.

Obviously, the tension wasn’t enough for Loki, because he redoubled his efforts, increasing his speed and sucking harder on his way up. It was just possible that he would die of a heart attack, right there at his desk, brought on by getting a blowjob.

“What is it?” Tony coughed at the end of the sentence, trying to cover the real reason for the squeak in his voice.

“Aggregate, with four g’s and two t’s. What the hell are they teaching these kids in twelve years of English? How can they not even know how to use spellcheck?” Bruce often complained that there wasn’t enough science taught in public school, and that kids weren’t getting everything they could out of the classes they were given. Bruce was a crusader in the name of science. Tony was occasionally ashamed by the fact that he obviously didn’t care as much.

Right then, though, Loki was a bigger concern than public schools, or caring, or any fucking thing at all. If he didn’t think quickly, he was going to have a lot of explaining to do. “Why don’t you go home, B? Have a glass of wine, listen to some Bach, and cool off before you try to tackle that crap?”

He swore he could almost hear Loki snickering from under his desk. He certainly _felt_ it.

Bruce set down the papers and pulled his glasses off, cleaning them with his shirt, a nervous habit that Tony found amusing. And helpful, at the moment, since Bruce not being able to see the strain on his face could only be a good thing. Finally, putting his glasses back on, Bruce nodded. “You’re right. I’m not doing any good here, whining about spellcheck.”

“Yeah, well, you have a good weekend, Buddy.” Tony looked back down to the paper in his hands, which was still completely unmarked. That was when he felt Loki’s hand jerking back and forth next to his shin, mimicking the motions of his mouth on Tony’s cock. Fuck. He was jerking off down there. And suddenly, Tony wanted nothing more than to pull back and watch.

“Maybe you should head home too, Tony.” Bruce said as he stood up. “You’re looking a little off. Plus, you’ve been staring at the same paper since I got here.”

Fuck. So much for subtlety. “Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s been one of those weeks, y’know?”

“Boy, do I,” Bruce answered with a frustrated groan. “It’s hard enough coming back from Spring Break, but then the kids don’t want to be here either, and nothing of value ends up getting done.” He grabbed his battered leather attaché, and pushed the stack of research papers into it. “I’m going home. You should too, Tony, before you overwork yourself right into a cold.”

“A cold?” Tony tried to laugh in response, but ended up faking a coughing fit when Loki’s lips tightened around him. “More like a nervous breakdown…” he finished lamely. He rubbed at his temples, mostly for show, and then nodded at Bruce. “I think I’ll head home in a few, too. See you Monday.”

Loki pulled out all the stops, suddenly, trying to fit Tony all the way to the back of his throat again. If Tony had been more capable of rational thought, he’d have worried that Loki would choke and give himself away somehow. Instead, he was busy trying not to grab Loki by the hair, push his head down, and come down his throat. Well, in the condom. At least there was that to make things easier.

Bruce waved his goodbye, locking his side of the office behind him.

Tony was half expecting that Loki would slow down when the door clicked shut, since he could no longer torment Tony with the possibility of discovery. Instead, he increased his pace yet again, moving fast enough that he was going to tire himself out if Tony… well, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

“I must be out of my fucking mind,” Tony ground out, grabbing the edge of his desk. “I can’t believe you just fucking did that.”

A little whine came up from under the desk, and it was the last straw. Tony let go. He let his head fall back, but worked hard to keep from thrusting forward with his hips. Loki kept right on sucking, and Tony’s brain bounced straight back from ‘fuck, this is insane’ to ‘fuck, this is amazing’ with that familiar few seconds of pure bliss.

And it wasn’t even Saturday, yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot and smut. What a weird combination. :)


	12. pancakes

Saturday arrived, and for the first time, Tony was awake and not hung over when Loki arrived bright and early in the morning. In fact, he went to the grocery store at eight AM, and arrived back just in time to find Loki pulling into his driveway. Timing had to work in his favor once in a while, he supposed.

Loki was looking bemused as he stepped out of his car. When Tony grabbed a bag of groceries from the passenger seat of his car, he smiled. “Oh, good. I was afraid I’d interrupted a walk of shame.”

“I assure you, I’ve never been ashamed of arriving home at any hour of the night or morning.” Tony shot him a grin. “I’m always disgustingly proud of myself.”

Loki laughed, but when they arrived at the door at the same time, he gave Tony’s ass a proprietary grab.

Tony looked back at him as he walked inside, “I seem to remember telling you that my ass is the advanced part of this class, Green Eyes.”

“I thought it was the final exam. Have we moved to a higher-level class?” Loki stalked after him, and Tony found himself having to work not to turn and walk backward so that he could continue looking Loki in the eyes. Those bright, mischievous eyes that Tony was pretty sure were starring in his dreams. 'Screwed' no longer covered where he was; it was much worse than that.

Jesus. Did he have a crush on a sixteen year old? And to think that he’d been worried about how Loki thought he felt about him. Obviously he needed to spend a little more time worrying about his own inappropriate emotions.

He set the grocery bags down in the kitchen, and Loki immediately grabbed one and started fishing through it like it was _his_ weekly food supply. “Cheetos? Don’t tell me you actually eat this?”

“You’re going to judge my food, Mr. Lollipop? Do you eat anything that isn’t in the sugar food group?” Tony had grown up with those disgusting salty corn snacks. No one was going to insult them and get away with it in his house!

Loki just rolled his eyes. “What you eat at school doesn’t count. It’s not real food.” He pulled out the carton of soy milk and slipped it in the refrigerator.

Tony handed him the eggs, and then realized what they were doing. “Are you putting away my groceries?”

“Well you are teaching me all about relationships, Mr. Stark.” At Tony’s raised eyebrow, Loki justified his response. “I mean it! You were just telling me last Saturday about how I shouldn’t put up with bad sex just to get any sex. What about splitting household chores?”

How the hell could he respond to that, other than laughter? So he laughed. “I don’t know about splitting, Babe. If you want to be a house husband, I think you’re buying the groceries _and_ putting them away. Probably most of the rest, too.”

Loki frowned dubiously at Tony for a minute before shrugging. “I guess, if I have to _do_ things. At least I get to cook. But you have to promise to put your dirty dishes in the sink. No leaving them on the table like my brother always does.”

“Dishes in the sink it is.” Tony agreed amiably. “Now how do you feel about pancakes?”

After slipping the cheese into the fridge next to the eggs, Loki looked up at him curiously. “You want me to make pancakes?”

“Oh no, you don’t. They’re like, the _one_ thing I can make. My mother taught me when I was a kid. So how do you feel about them?” Tony started pulling out the necessary dishes. He realized that Loki had probably eaten already, but part of him wanted to prove that he wasn’t utterly useless in the kitchen, since it had always been Loki cooking.

“I am decidedly pro-pancake.” Loki said, pulling himself up onto the counter next to the sink and watching Tony fascinatedly. “One might even call me a pancake fan.”

“Excellent.” Tony started measuring ingredients the way his mother always did; by guestimation.

Loki watched in fascination. “No wonder your measuring cups are pristine. You don’t ever use them, do you? Why do you have them?”

“Um, no. And… when I got a house, I bought all the things that were supposed to go in it. Dumb, I know.” Tony shrugged, stirring up the dry ingredients with a fork. “I guess I thought that things like that made a place more like my vision of what a home was supposed to be.”

The only apparent answer was a nod, as Loki continued to watch his work with fascination.

Tony abruptly decided that he didn’t like the kitchen so quiet. “Hey, you um… you want to make coffee? Do you even drink coffee?”

“I love coffee. As long as it’s real coffee, and not from one of those single serving machines.” Loki made a face. “Odin has one of those, and it’s disgusting.”

Tony shrugged. “Never tried it. All I need is a good old fashioned coffee maker.”

That earned him laughter from Loki. “For a scientist, your whole kitchen is a little old fashioned. It’s kind of cute. Though the oven will need to be replaced.”

“Huh?” This threw Tony. What was wrong with his oven?

Loki rolled his eyes. “It’s like twenty years old, Tony. It’s not even convection.”

Tony cocked his head and thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. I guess… I guess it is like twenty years old. I think they told me it was the oldest appliance in the house, but what the hell do I know about kitchen appliances? Convection, huh? Like what, forced convection with some kind of fan?” He didn’t realize how tense Loki had been, until he was halfway through his ramble.

“I don’t know. I just know that the oven at home doesn’t burn things like the ones at school do.” As though it had never existed, the tension was gone before Loki opened his mouth to respond. 

Huh. Tony reviewed the conversation in his head, trying to pick out… oh. _Tony._ Well hell, was he going to complain? He’d been struggling to reconcile sleeping with someone who called him Mr. Stark. He was quiet for a long moment as he tried to do the ‘math’ in his head. Real math was so much easier than feelings.

He was teaching Loki about sex, it was true. It wasn’t the kind of teaching that you could get in a class, though, because there was none of the separation between teacher and student that there was supposed to be. He wasn’t teaching Loki about sex as a teacher. They both knew that. He didn’t treat Loki the same way in the bedroom that he still did in the classroom. Fuck, he hadn’t even asked for the Physics homework. He wouldn’t have turned him away if he hadn’t brought it, either.

So why was part of him desperately clinging to the roles of teacher and student? Probably the same reason he kept having arguments with himself about it. At its heart, what they had was an inappropriate relationship.

But it was definitely a relationship.

He finished mixing ingredients for the pancake batter and turned to the apparently-offensive oven, flipping on the main burner. Maybe he should convert the oven to gas. Of course, he kept thinking of installing solar panels, which wouldn’t go well with a gas conversion. Not that they were mutually exclusive, but—

“You’ve gotten quiet.” Loki’s concerned voice broke through his musings. “I’m sorry, Mr. Sta—”

“You’re going to have to be careful when we get back to class.” Tony interrupted Loki’s attempt to put the situation back the way it had been. Tony always had been one for jumping into things head first, and only later thinking to check if there was a safety net. “You call me Tony in class, and we’re both in a lot of trouble.”

Loki was silent for so long that Tony got tense and wondered if _he’d_ gone a bridge too far.

He turned to find Loki staring at him in wonder. “What?” He frowned at the scrutiny. “I’m just saying it’s kind of important that you keep calling me Mr. Stark in the classroom.”

“But I can… here? Tony?” Loki looked positively gleeful, and Tony couldn’t make himself think of it as anything but cute.

Tony smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Tony. It’s kind of creepy getting called Mr. Stark during sex anyway.”

Loki’s grin was brilliant, and it made Tony’s fall from grace seem less important. It was done, after all. Nothing to do about it after the fact. And his fall had given him a happy, smiling Loki in his kitchen. Maybe he’d just been alone too long, but it felt completely worthwhile.

“Anyway, make me coffee to go with these pancakes, dammit!” Tony started pouring pancake batter, then considered. “You… you do want breakfast, right?”

“Yes! I’m starved.” Loki pulled mugs down from the cupboard and retrieved the milk from the fridge. “I figured maybe I’d make eggs, so I didn’t see a reason to eat before coming over.”

It was probably a little weird that Tony was pleased to be making breakfast for someone, but he chose to let go of all the worries for just a few minutes and enjoy himself.

After a few minutes Loki came over and set a mug of coffee next to where he was working at the stove. Tony murmured his thanks before flipping the first batch of pancakes. A few moments later, he plated them and handed them to Loki.

Loki proceeded to cover them with butter and syrup, then hop up on the counter and tuck in. “Wow, Mr—Tony, these are _amazing_.” Loki groaned in appreciation. “Your mother must be great in the kitchen.”

Tony laughed. “Actually, she’s pretty awful. She’s got pancakes and chicken soup, and that’s about the limit of her skills. Incidentally, it’s pretty much the limit of mine, too.”

Shrugging, Loki dismissed it. “If this is the only breakfast you can cook, it’s good enough.” He continued eating for a minute, and then cocked his head at Tony. “Is this what it’s like not to live with your family?”

“That depends on what you mean by ‘this’, but this whole thing is pretty much the opposite of living with your parents.” Tony flipped his own pancakes over, and then looked back to Loki. “Sitting on the counter eating pancakes with a person you’re planning to have sex with, I mean.”

“Frigga always gives me shit when I sit on the counter. Says I’ll get it dirty.” Loki shrugged and then went back to eating.

Tony laughed. “I think we established yesterday that apparently I will let you do pretty much any damned thing you want.” It could be funny or frightening, but Tony was making a concerted effort to let go of his preconceived ideas, so he focused on funny.

As Tony plated his own pancakes, Loki handed him the syrup. “That’s because you need lessons in having fun as much as I need lessons in how to have sex.”

“What, I don’t know how to have fun, now?” He couldn’t say it was at all surprising that Loki thought that of him, but for the first time in his adult life, Tony found himself listening to someone else’s opposing opinion and truly considering it. Had he really let life get to him so much that the joy had gone out of it?

Since Tony went to sit at the table, Loki hopped down from his spot on the counter and went to sit in the chair to his right. “It’s not that you don’t know how to have fun, it’s that you’ve forgotten that you should do it. You work, like, _all the time_. You said so yourself.”

“That’s because I’m a highly paid professional. Or, you know, a teacher.” Tony took a bite of his pancakes, and remembered the last time he’d made them.

Four years earlier, when he’d landed this teaching job upstate, and he’d asked his then-girlfriend to move in with him. He’d had images of them buying a house together, getting married, and then having kids in this town. Turned out that she’d been expecting him to ‘stop pouting, make up with his father, and have a real career.’ It was the last time he’d seen her. It was still a little painful to remember, but most days, he didn’t even think about her. Most days lately, he spent his time thinking about Loki.

“True, but I have a lot of work to do.” He sipped his coffee, again wondering how Loki knew just the way he liked it. Curious, he took a sip of Loki’s coffee. Way too much sugar. Ew. Loki was looking at him curiously when he set it back down. “Just wondering. You been stalking me some more, that you know how I take my coffee?”

“Natasha’s boyfriend works at the school coffee shop sometimes. I asked.” Loki looked even more smug than usual, and took a defiant bite of his pancakes. “And you could totally have less work to do. Assign less homework, use the book more instead of making up your own stuff, and don’t try to help slackers like Fandral and me.”

Tony couldn’t help but laugh. “Seriously? And you think the last one is a good idea, why?”

“I didn’t say stop helping me. I said not to take in any _more_ lost kittens.” Loki’s face and tone were cordial enough, but something in his eyes told Tony that he was dead serious. The little shit was jealous of as-yet-unmet students that Tony might ~~sleep with~~ help.

Tony could have told him that at least one of his worries was ridiculous, but he didn’t think that it would be well taken if he told Loki he thought that sleeping with teenagers was largely a disgusting pursuit in which he had no interest. The goal wasn’t pissing Loki off, after all.

Instead, Tony smiled at him. “I get it, Loki. But if I’m a teacher, I’m going to be a good teacher. If I’m going to give up, I might as well go back to New York and work for my father.”

“You father?” Loki cocked his head. “Work for your father in New York?”

Tony flinched. Dammit. He’d always managed to keep his relationship with Howard on the down low in his new life. After all, Stark wasn’t exactly a rare surname. And when you took away the pomp of ‘Anthony Edward’ and went by just Tony, well… who would think a high school physics teacher was the son of a billionaire industrialist? The goatee probably helped too, since he didn’t look much like baby-faced Anthony Edward Stark, boy genius.

Probably why Hill hated him, when he admitted such things to himself. Like everyone who hadn’t grown up rich and miserable, she knew with certainty that he’d always been handed everything he wanted in life, and resented his appropriation of her territory.

“Yeah. Anyway, you want some more coffee?” Tony held up his mug in one hand, and held the other out for Loki’s.

Loki didn’t look the least bit fooled, but he shrugged and nodded, handing Tony his mug. “So what’s on today’s agenda, other than pancakes?”

Setting the mugs together on the counter, Tony tried not to heave a sigh of relief at Loki’s acceptance of his reluctance to talk about his father. It was silly, but he had an image of Loki seeing the same dollar signs his college girlfriend had, and telling him it was time to grow up and go work for his father.

Coffee, though. Right, same amount of milk as Tony, way too much sugar. He could do that. He poured them each a cup of coffee, and brought them back to the table, where Loki was… stealing pancakes from Tony’s plate. He’d finished his, and decided it wasn’t enough, apparently.

Tony tried not to laugh. “Um, I could make you more, you know.”

“I don’t want ‘more’,” Loki informed him with a wide grin. “I want yours.”

“I’d drink your coffee as retaliation, but I think I might die of diabetes before I finished swallowing.” Tony set the mugs down and then reseated himself at the table. Impulsively, he leaned over and kissed Loki softly on the lips. Nothing sexual, no mad rush or lustful abandon. Just a close-lipped press across his syrup-stained lips.

When he pulled back, Loki’s grin had dropped, and they just stared at each other for a moment.

And then Loki closed his eyes and leaned in again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully more Monday, though I confess that I've been working on Nothing Ventured instead. I'm not even sorry. :D


	13. tickled pink

After a moment, Loki tore himself away from the kissing. Tony was actually going to protest, but Loki jumped up and started cleaning before he could. He tossed the rest of the pancakes, stacked the dishes in the sink, put the butter and syrup away, wiped the table with a wet cloth, and then came back to Tony.

“Um, wow? You’re like… a whirlwind of cleaning right now. Do I get the treatment?” Tony was dumbfounded. He cleaned up after himself — eventually — but he never did that.

“A cleaning?” Loki asked as he wrung out the dishrag and laid it out to dry. “Why, have you been particularly dirty today?”

Tony chuckled. “Not yet.” He downed the rest of his coffee, before Loki could make off with his mug.

Loki, meanwhile, sauntered back over and straddled Tony’s lap. Then he wound his arms around Tony’s shoulders for balance. “The faster I get the cleaning done, the faster I get to do this.” He leaned in for a kiss. Just barely pressing his lips against Tony’s, he opened them for long enough to run his tongue delicately across Tony’s lower lip. Then he used the height his position gave him to look down into Tony’s eyes. “Fuck me, Tony?”

Well that was a far cry from the nervousness of the first few times, or the request to learn that they’d started out with. Loki had already learned so much. Tony wondered how much more he intended to learn before moving on.

And as much as part of Tony wanted to call a halt to the kissing and find out exactly what Loki’s intentions were, he didn’t think that was a terribly good idea. He didn’t really want to sound like a shrill high school girlfriend demanding to know what was going to happen when her boyfriend went off to college.

Besides, did he really want to hear about it? _Well I was planning on learning all about how to fuck from you, Mr. Stark. Then when Fandral’s a rich, famous model, we’re going to get married and move to New York. He won’t have appliances older than I am._

Part of Tony truly did believe that everybody wanted to be rich and live in the city. Sometimes he wondered why he didn’t just give in. He could probably step back into his old life like he’d never been gone. And unless Odin had some personal vendetta, which seemed unlikely, Tony wouldn’t even be doing anything unethical by sleeping with Loki, let alone illegal.

Funny, how his weird not-fantasy of going back to New York suddenly involved Loki, and not his college girlfriend as it always had in the past. It had always been her coming back and agreeing to be a teacher’s wife, and then he would surprise her by giving her what she wanted and going back to New York. Suddenly it was, ‘well, if I were working for my father, I could fuck Loki with impunity.’

“Tooooony…” Loki sing-songed, bringing him back to present reality. “Not exactly flattering. I ask you to fuck me, and you take a mental vacation. Where’d you go?”

Tony shook his head. “Not important.”

“Bullshit. Something’s bothering you.” Loki put a hand on either side of his face and leaned in until their foreheads were touching. “Tell me what it is, or I’ll tickle it out of you.”

Tony let his dubiousness show. “You’ll tickle it out of me? Seriously? Tickling? What are we, eight?”

“One does not need to be eight to fall in battle to a tickling master.” Loki said sagely, like tickling was even a thing.

In Tony’s experience, tickling was something done by people on kids movies, and maybe romcoms. He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Loki. Everything’s fine. I’m here, let’s just get back to— You’re not going to drop this, are you?”

Raising one elegant eyebrow, Loki asked “Do you yield?”

“Yield? Fuck that, I’ve never forfeited anything in my life.” Tony poked Loki in the back.

Loki shrugged in mock sadness. “Well you asked for it.” Pulling his hands away from Tony’s face, he pointed his long, elegant fingers and attacked Tony’s sides with a mass of squirming digits.

Jesus Christ, he wasn’t kidding. Tony had never been tickled before in his life. He bucked up against Loki uncontrollably, trying to escape the assault of those deadly fingers. In two seconds flat, they were rolling around on the kitchen floor, Tony trying to get away, and Loki expertly not allowing it. Tony strongly suspected he was not Loki’s first conquest in such a match.

In less than thirty seconds, Tony had gone from supreme confidence to a writhing mass of defeat. “Okay, okay, I give! Stop! Please!”

Loki pulled himself up to straddle Tony, bracing those demon hands on Tony’s chest. Conveniently placed in case Tony tried to back out, he supposed. “You concede defeat?”

Trying desperately to catch his breath, Tony nodded. “Yes. Defeat.” He held his hands up in the universal gesture of surrender.

“Excellent. Now, what was bothering you?” Loki got right back down to business. Shit.

_Think fast Tony._ _Not gonna lie to him, so how to get him off the subject?_ Tony grinned as an idea came to him. “You sure that’s the prize you want?”

Loki looked nonplussed for a moment, then quirked an eyebrow and smirked. “What else is the defeated party offering in its place?”

Tony pressed his hips up suggestively, and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh no you don’t.” Loki immediately shook his head. “Not that riding you wasn’t amazing, but I can do that for free, I think. You liked it as much as I did.” He ground his hips down into Tony as if to make a point.

It was true, Tony had to concede. On the other hand, pretty much any sexual act, up to and including parading around in drag, was a better option than telling Loki he’d been turning into a hysterical teenager who was trying to plan their future together, but convinced he was going to be abandoned for a younger model — possibly a literal model. Death, in fact, might have been a better option than admitting that.

It was just too pitiful.

“Okay.” Tony agreed. At least he could breathe again. “That’s fair.” He slowly moved his hands down to rest on Loki’s thighs and slowly slide toward the apex.

“Don’t go thinking you’re going to convince me to give up my victory, Tony.” Loki pushed his own erection down into Tony’s groin, proving that he didn’t need any help in that department. “You owe me, so if you want out of talking, you’d better come up with something new fast.”

A hundred things ran through Tony’s head and were summarily dismissed. There were just too many things that Loki wasn’t ready for yet. Too many things that would end in giggles instead of sex. There was always the obvious, though.

“Alright,” Tony nodded. “But I get to be on top.”

Loki cocked his head. “Huh?”

Tony grinned lazily. “You wanted something new, right? Well I’m offering something new. You can have what’s behind curtain number two. But you don’t get to see it before you decide.”

This idea brought out a scowl. “That’s not fair! What if it’s boring?”

“Have I bored you yet?” Tony asked in an almost offended tone. “It’s not a hard choice. The random thoughts that were going through my head a few minutes ago, or something new in the bedroom.”

Loki leaned down and looked him in the eye for a long moment. “You really don’t want to talk about it.”

“No.” Tony answered just as bluntly.

Loki brought a hand back up to his face, caressing gently. “But you’d tell me the truth anyway?”

Fuck. Tony swallowed and nodded.

That little sphinx smile playing across his lips, Loki sat back up, pulled himself to his feet, and held his hand out to help Tony up. Deciding that it wasn’t a time to be prideful, Tony accepted, though he didn't pull too much on him so he wouldn't unbalance. This seemed to please Loki even further.

Tony sighed and opened his mouth to speak, but Loki stopped him with a finger. “I choose curtain number two.”

That was utterly bewildering. Tony’s expression obviously said so, because Loki’s smile turned understanding. It occurred to Tony that Loki really was just there for the sex, so in the end, what difference did it make to him what Tony was thinking? He got more out of—

“I’ll get more out of you this way,” Loki said, wrapping his arms around Tony’s waist and pulling him in tight. Of course. “Because you’ll give me this now… and then someday when you get more comfortable having me around, you’ll talk to me about things like whatever it is that’s bothering you.”

Wait, what?

Loki rolled his eyes at Tony’s denseness. “If I make you tell me things you don’t want to, it’s just going to make you unhappy, and uncomfortable, and mess up our Saturday. And I don’t want anything to mess up our day.”

Tony wound his arms through Loki’s and around his waist. “You’re too fucking smart to be sixteen, you know that? But really, why would you care about random shit that happens in my head? I could have been thinking about my taxes.”

Loki snorted indelicately. “You weren’t. Your taxes are done for the year. And I’m allowed to care about whatever I want. But I chose the curtain, and I’m expecting a prize.”

“And boy did you make the right call.” He leaned in and brushed his lips across Loki’s cheek. “Hearing my pathetic problems, or… well, why don’t we head upstairs and you’ll find out?”

A second later, Tony was practically being dragged up the stairs to his bedroom. Upon arrival, Loki practically pushed him down on the bed, and for some reason, that was _fucking hot_.

“Something new, you promised me.” Loki reminded him, licking his lips like a hungry cat.

Tony nodded, and then motioned to Loki’s state of complete dress. “Strip. I want to see that fabulous ass of yours.”

Loki preened at the compliment, and it distracted him — at least a little — from the fact that he was stripping for an audience. He had figured it out and was blushing and fidgeting a bit by the time he had gotten everything off, but he hadn’t so much as hesitated. Tony was proud, and he was quite sure that was weird.

He stood, though, and motioned to the bed. “On your back.”

Giving a mock-careless shrug, Loki complied. “I don’t suppose I get a reciprocal striptease?” He asked, lower lip sticking out a bit. Not two weeks earlier, Tony had told him not to do that, because it was disturbing. Now it was cute. Fuck. Tony shook his head in bemusement. Loki took that to mean no striptease, and pouted more.

So Tony smirked at him. “You want a tease, Loki? I can give you a tease.”

“Oh bother, is this going to be another ‘don’t rush’ lesson?” Loki looked both displeased and positively breathless at the idea.

“Liked that one, did you?” Tony asked as he slowly pulled his t-shirt up to reveal a strip of skin between the cloth and his jeans. Then he undid the button with his right thumb, and grabbed the zipper pull with his thumb and forefinger. Slowly enough that paint might dry before he was done, he pulled the zipper down.

Loki just sat there on the bed, staring at where zipper opened to reveal red boxer shorts. “It is another lesson on rushing, isn’t it?”

Letting himself chuckle, Tony shrugged at the question. “You could call it that. It’s in the same vein, and it’s just as important.”

“Is it how to drive someone crazy by stripping as slowly as humanly possible?” Loki’s fingers twitched in anticipations as he watched Tony slip his own fingers between jeans and boxer shorts, and push the denim down until the fabric separated and the jeans pooled on the floor at Tony’s feet.

Reaching back up to grab the hem of his t-shirt again, Tony slowly slid it up his chest, revealing only an inch or two at a time. “You did ask for a striptease, Loki. Thought maybe I should show you how it’s done. You’re always so, you know… in a rush.”

“You said it yourself. I’m a teenager. Hormones. Can you be naked now? I want to see your—” Loki broke off midsentence and blinked.

“Body? Ass? Cock?” Tony prompted, wanting to know where his lover’s mind had drifted. Lover? Fuck. Oh well. It wasn’t worse that ‘Babe’, and that had popped up early, when he wasn’t even looking. “What do you want to see, Loki? I’d be more than happy to show it to you, whatever it is.”

Loki’s eyebrows flew up. “Would you?”

Tony pulled the t-shirt up over his head, finally leaving himself in just his favorite red silk boxer shorts. “You say the words, I’ll show you.”

“Your ass. I want to see your ass.” Loki’s tongue slipped out to wet his lips, and he looked as focused as Tony had ever seen him.

Maybe a future in rimming wasn’t as far off as Tony had assumed. Still not on the agenda for today, though. He had a plan right now, and as stupid and ill-conceived as it was, he found that he actually wanted to see it through. He lazily turned around to face away from Loki, and tucked his thumbs into the waist of his shorts.

“No. I want to see you up close. Over here.” Demanding little shit. Well, he wanted it.

Tony grinned, and strolled over to the edge of the bed. “Care to do the honors, too?” He spun back around so his ass was facing Loki, and looking back over his shoulder, he pulled a bit on his waistband and looked at Loki expectantly.

Loki nodded swiftly and crawled over to the edge, where he carefully peeled Tony’s boxers down. “You said I wasn’t allowed near this, you know.” Loki smirked, but his tone was mildly surprised and maybe a little overwhelmed.

“A good teacher always knows when to change the lesson plan.” Tony joked back. Loki ran his fingertips lightly across Tony’s ass, obviously waiting to be told to stop. “That all you got, Green Eyes?”

“Are you baiting me?” Loki ran a finger into the cleft between the cheeks. He slowed his hand, inching downward, and inward, waiting for the demand to halt. Tony let him go. It was a little strange and awkward; he hadn’t let anyone touch him like that in more than a decade. Still, he’d decided to get himself into a relationship with a man. His ass was inevitably going to be involved at some point. “Mr. Sta-um, Tony?” Loki started to sound more nervous than curious, so Tony decided to move forward.

He turned, deliberately smiling. “You okay?”

Loki looked a bit confused, but nodded. “I just didn’t know if you really wanted me to be—”

“Remember our safeword?” Tony asked seriously.

Loki nodded.

“Well so do I. If something had been wrong, I’d have asked you to stop. Okay?” Walking his way around the edge of the bed, Tony reached into the nightstand for lube and condoms.

Another nod from Loki. “I understand. I just thought the whole safeword thing was for if I was in pain.”

Dammit. Tony had been so sure he’d made it clear. He pulled himself up next to Loki and put a hand on the side of his face. “It’s for anytime you’re uncomfortable or unhappy with what we’re doing, Loki. If you want me to stop what I’m doing, at all, for _any_ reason, you have your safeword. Chances are I’d react just as strongly to ‘stop’, but we have a safeword for a reason.”

Loki was nodding, and it calmed Tony’s nerves a bit.

After considering for a moment, though, he frowned. “You haven’t let me keep going when you didn’t want to, have you?”

“No! Don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t even asked me to do anything weird.” Loki protested, probably having flashbacks of their consent conversations.

Tony sighed, mollified if not one hundred percent convinced. “Okay. But if you’re at all uncomfortable with anything, you need to know that I’ll stop. No judgement, no shame, no concerns about whether I’ll think less of you. Sometimes you just need to stop, and that’s fine.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “I get it, okay? Would you just fuck me already?”

“Nope.” Tony informed him decisively.

“What? All this, and I’m not even—”

Ignoring the continuing protest, Tony grabbed a condom, tore the wrapper off, and expertly rolled it onto Loki.

Loki went utterly silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go. A little late, but it's here!


	14. testing hypotheses

“How much do you want to learn about prep?” Tony asked conversationally, as though he weren’t nervous at all.

The breathless reply came immediately. “Everything. All of it.”

That was probably a good thing. Sort of a necessary skill, after all. “Okay then. Lube up your fingers.”

Loki poured an extra generous amount of lube into his hand, and Tony was rather grateful for that. Then he looked at Tony. “Do you need to lay down?”

Tony shrugged. Since it was the first thing Loki had mentioned, he figured he’d give it to him. He lay down across the bed, and spread his legs, bending at the knees to give Loki better access. His heart was pounding in his chest, and the word _Physics_ was suddenly on the tip of his tongue.

Jesus, what was he, thirteen again? No. Loki would listen to him. Loki actually gave a damn whether it hurt. And it wasn’t like Loki was either inclined toward, or probably even capable of, making Tony do anything he didn’t want to.

“Are you sure about this, Tony? You look a little like a cornered animal.” Loki as frowning concernedly. Trust him to see through Tony’s tough façade.

He didn’t even have to think about it before he replied, “I trust you, Loki.”

Loki paused a moment, then just nodded and moved his body between Tony’s legs, and very hesitantly ran his lubed fingers down Tony’s perineum toward his ass. A wicked gleam came into his eyes. “Now, Tony, you do remember your safeword, right?”

Okay, that helped his nerves. Tony chuckled. “Yes, Sir, I remember my safeword.”

“Good boy. Now relax for me, and spread your legs as far as you can.” Loki prompted, using skills Tony had unintentionally taught him. There was a bit of irony in his tone, but the words were still somehow reassuring. Loki was paying attention. Loki knew what to do. Hell, it was a good test of how well Tony had taught him, wasn’t it?

Fuck, did he really want to put the risk of pain on his teaching skills? Too late to ask that, he supposed.

Loki just ran his fingers along Tony’s skin for a few moments, his other hand petting Tony’s thigh. Then slowly and gently, he slipped one of his warmed fingertips inside. The impressive amount of lube eased the friction nicely, and it was just… odd. Tony just stayed still, trying to relax as Loki worked that one finger into him, slowly and a little further with each stroke. When he reached the second knuckle, he paused. “Are you ready for more?”

Not trusting his voice, Tony nodded. It was so strange, doing this again. Not as panic-inducing as it had always been before, but awkward and unfamiliar.

Loki swallowed hard, but he added another finger to the first, once again slowing down to allow Tony to adapt. Tony started to feel Loki’s prior irritation. Jesus, would he just get on with it? He pressed himself toward Loki, and moaned aloud at the swift intrusion.

“Now, Tony, don’t go getting impatient. I don’t want to hurt you.” The bastard might have been quoting him word for word. It sounded like he was trying to copy Tony’s teaching tone of voice, too. He ran his hand along Tony’s torso in a soothing way.

The whole thing just made Tony want to do it again, if that was his reward.

Instead, he just shook his head. “Another.”

Loki looked at him dubiously. “Are you sure? You don’t have to do this, you know. We could just go back to the previously planned afternoon.”

With pleasure, Tony realized that Loki was utterly sincere in his offer. There was no doubt he was learning, if he was willing to give up something he’d expressed so much interest in because he thought Tony was uncomfortable.

Tony smiled, but shook his head. “Give me another.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Loki slumped a little in relief. Tony had to work not to laugh. “I really want to be inside you.”

Oh. Well that was um… His cock, which had been quite uncertain about the situation, suddenly started to show interest. “Is that right?”

Having noticed the change himself, Loki gave his wickedest grin. Wedging a third finger right next to the others, Loki slowly pushed them in. “Yes it is. I’ve been dreaming of it since you implied it might be an option at some point. I had just been expecting to spend forever on bottom.” He shrugged noncommittally. “And I was pretty okay with that.”

“Forever’s kind of a long time. At the very least you’re going to end up with a guy who wants to switch, eventually.” Tony tried to keep teaching, even with three fingers fucking in and out of his ass. It was rather difficult, he found. Particularly the part where he had to reference Loki sleeping with other men.

“You mean switch like this?” Loki asked, but he was distracted, watching his own fingers slipping in and out of Tony.

Tony nodded, and tried not to let the whimper in his throat find voice. He failed, of course.

Loki looked at him dubiously. “I don’t think you really want to switch like this. Maybe—”

“Next.” Tony ordered, his tone allowing for no protest.

Loki’s eye widened, and he froze.

“Give me the next one, Loki.” Tony made a point of pressing his torso downward again, further onto the fingers. “If I really didn’t want to do this, nothing could force me to. I just haven’t done it in a long time.”

Loki obliged, even more slowly than the other times. His hand was in Tony almost to the knuckles, and the stretch felt intense. And then Loki froze. “Tony, please tell me you’ve done this between now and the time when you were thirteen?”

“Sure.” Tony panted. “Once.”

Loki’s eyes rounded, and he stared at Tony for a long moment. “Once? You’ve only… I’m only the third…”

“Don’t go crazy on me there, Green Eyes. No counting, or freaking out. I’m ready. Lube yourself up.” Tony wasn’t entirely sure he was mentally ready, but he had to distract Loki from that rather dangerous train of thought.

He tried not to think about the last time he’d done this. It had been fine. Quite good, even. But when it had been over, he’d decided that he couldn’t think of a reason to do it again. Why bother, when it mostly made him nervous, and caused a bit of pain? He hadn’t ever found a reason to change his mind about it before.

He couldn’t convince himself that he was doing it now just to distract Loki, though. He wasn’t quite sure _why_ he was doing it.

Still wide eyed, Loki nodded, slathered even more lube onto his hand, and slicked his condom-covered cock with it.

When he started to open his mouth, Tony put a finger over his lips. “Unless you’re planning to safeword out of this — which you don’t get to do on my behalf — I’d really rather you not say anything right this minute.”

Loki shook his head, and grabbed the finger Tony had laid on his mouth. For a second, Tony actually thought he would call a halt, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. What he said was smarter than that, though. “You said you got to be on top. Ride me.”

Tony smiled. “As you wish.” He nodded, and Loki practically threw himself down on his back.

Tony climbed up to straddle his slim hips, and reached back to position Loki’s cock. When he felt the head straining at his asshole, he pushed his hips down a fraction, and lodged the tip into himself. Reflexively, he squeezed his eyes shut so tight that all light was blocked out, and focused on what he was doing.

He pressed down hard, unable to restrain the whimper from the feeling of that fat head forcing its way past the tight ring of muscle. Jesus, how was Loki ever going to respect him again after this? What if he just plain old sucked at bottoming? Even the second time he’d had penetrative anal sex, he’d spent half the time whimpering like a horror-movie character. And that guy had been pretty damned skilled. Tony had gotten off, repeatedly.

 Why had this been a good plan?

When he forced his eyes open and looked down at Loki, though, all he could see was wonder and utter bliss. Yeah, that was good. And for the first time, Tony felt completely in control in the position of… erm, receiver. He was on top. He got to control the pace, and he could choose to stop.

“Tony! You-you’re so… mmmmmh.” The last slipped out when Tony started pressing the rest of the way down.

The head was the hard part, he reminded himself as he slowly let his body weight drag him down flush with Loki’s body. He didn’t bother trying to mask his whimpers. If there was damage, it was done. The first few strokes would hurt a bit, he remembered, but it got better after that. Especially if he could find the right… Leaning back, he squirmed his way around until he felt the cock inside him brush softly against his prostate. That made him gasp loudly. Oh fuck, that was why he had enjoyed the second time so fucking much, nervous or no.

He looked back down to find Loki watching him, excitement written in every line on his face. “Are you okay? Do you…mmm… do you need to stop?” The last part of the sentence was a whine, but he said it.

Tony smiled. “You’d actually be okay with that?” He asked between panting breaths.

Loki whined again, but nodded. “If it’s bothering you… I—”

“Shut up about that and tell me how good I am at this.” Tony pulled himself up a few inches, flinching at the pulling sensation, and then let himself drop back down.

Loki moaned. “How good you are?” He asked in a shocked tone. He better not be about to mock Tony’s pathetic lack of skill, even if it held more truth than the opposite. “I can’t. Can’t… oh my god, you feel so good. I’m gonna blow.”

Tony stopped moving. “Oh no you don’t. You have any idea what it took for me to do this again? You’re giving me a ride, dammit.” He squirmed a bit until Loki’s cock was brushing against his prostate again. “I may not have been the best teacher on this count, but you always try to get the bottom off first.”

Loki thought about that for a moment and then nodded, reaching out to wrap his hand around Tony’s cock, which had somehow achieved full hardness when he hadn’t been looking. With considerably more finesse than previous times, Loki slowly stroked Tony from root to tip, and back down again. He’d been practicing on himself, Tony imagined. And he was sure he’d be imagining that again later.

“You feel amazing. Better than it was in my head. It’s like..." Loki's voice broke and for a few heartbeats all he could do was pant. "Oh fuck. Please, just keep doing that.” Loki’s strokes on Tony’s cock sped.

His confidence growing, Tony started bouncing on Loki’s cock. He made sure to hit just the right angle as he pushed down again and again, whimpering with each stroke of both Loki’s cock and hand. This was different than even the second time he’d done it. This was… better. This was so much better than before.

Loki started whimper with him, obviously trying to keep himself from thrusting up into Tony on the upstrokes. The tightly coiled muscles in his thighs were somehow reassuring. Loki was letting Tony keep full control of everything. “Tony… Oh, I hope you’ll let me do this again. It feels almost as good as having your cock in me. Do you—Do you like it? Please?”

Fuck. Oh fuck.

Tony’s brain was suddenly having difficulty functioning. What did Loki want? Was he asking if it was good? It was goddamned glorious. He whined inarticulately. His whole world seemed to be going dim, and he only vaguely realized that it was because his eyes kept flickering shut. “Ye-es,” he finally managed to force out. “Good. Oh fuck, it’s good.”

Loki’s hand sped on his cock, and his only answer to Tony’s comment was a low moan. Loki was so tense beneath him that Tony dimly wondered if he was going to end up with bruises on his thighs from the kinetic force of their hips slamming into each other. Had Loki been this hard on him? Who the hell cared? His hips moved as fast as he could sustain, and he was sure he was making positively obscene sounds, but all of his senses seemed dulled. Every nerve ending in his body was focused on his lower abdomen, and the tingling heat that had pooled there. Sound and light and scent were all irrelevant. He just needed more. More Loki.

There was suddenly a cold slippery sensation on his cock along with Loki’s long elegant fingers that were still stroking him—which, _what?_ The sensation flooded through the rest of his body and it felt so good that he forgot about wanting to ask. He pushed himself all the way down to meet Loki’s hips and cried out. He thought it was Loki’s name, but it honestly could have been anything.

When he came back to himself, he realized a few things. First, Loki was grinning up at him, a little dazed, but looking like he’d just won the lottery. Thank goodness, he must have come too. Second, the bottle of lube was lying next to Loki on the bed. So that was what he’d done to set Tony off… Clever.

Loki lazily trailed one finger through the mess Tony had made on his stomach, and looked at it curiously.

“Don’t even think it, Green Eyes.” Tony admonished.

Loki pouted. “Oh come on, Tony. If you’re really not having sex with anyone else, and we both know I never have—”

“That’s not the point.” Tony took a deep breath, intending to launch into another speech about safety precautions and how every man was not going to be honest with Loki.

Loki rolled his eyes, and very deliberately watching Tony, stuck his finger in his mouth. Then he made a face. “Ew.”

“Plus there’s that.” Tony said, trying not to be amused. He should be annoyed. Maybe even angry. Loki had just completely ignored everything he’d been trying to teach. “What the hell did you think it was going to be? It’s not exactly intended for consumption.”

“But everyone in porn does it, and they seem to think—”

“Seriously?” Okay, Tony _was_ annoyed at that. “Did you honestly just base a real-life sex decision on something you saw in porn? Please never do that again. I also don’t like people coming on my face, in case you were contemplating that.”

Loki seemed deep in thought. “Well that did always seem a little gross.”

Leaning down to look him in the eye, Tony looked at him curiously. “If you were so fascinated by the idea, why didn’t you just test it out for yourself? It would have been safer.”

That brought out a deep blush along Loki’s pale cheeks, which may or may not have wiped away the last of Tony’s irritation. He was so damned adorable. “I, um… I did.”

“And?” Tony prodded.

Loki shrugged a little embarrassedly, “I figured it was just mine.”

He absolutely couldn’t help himself at that; Tony broke out into uncontrolled laughter.

Loki looked vaguely annoyed, but after a moment, his lips started twitching. Tony rolled down off of him and pulled their bodies together, sticky mess and all, to embrace the other man.

"Testing your hypothesis on a larger population?" Tony murmured breathlessly, grinning. "We'll make a science guy out of you yet."

That set the both of them off laughing again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, sorry this was so long in coming, especially when I left you hanging like that. Hopefully this will scratch that itch!


	15. a C by any other name

Like any average teacher or student, Tony dreaded Monday. Going back to school after a weekend was always exhausting, and dealing with more than a hundred bratty kids who all thought they were the center of the universe was pretty much never something one looked forward to. Sometimes, Tony wasn’t actually sure why he did it.

Then students like Fandral happened, and it reminded him. Given half a chance and a teacher who seemed to give a damn, the kid was blossoming right in front of him. All stupid flower analogies aside, Fandral really was learning at a rate that Tony never would have thought possible. He gave a pop quiz on Monday just because he was in a crappy mood and his seventh hour class wouldn’t shut the hell up and put their phones away, and Fandral got a C. It wasn’t amazing as grades went, but it was the best the kid had ever done without substantial help by the always-willing-to-cheat Loki.

Loki, on the other hand, looked like death warmed over. If it had been his first class of the day, and Tony thought Loki drank, Tony would have said he was hung over. He was distinctly grey, and stared at his book the whole period.

Okay, maybe that was the real reason for the quiz. The notion that something was wrong with Loki set his teeth on edge, and the fact that Loki wasn’t looking at him made it even worse. So when the kids were their usual annoying selves, he got annoyed and gave them a quiz.

Then he assigned twice as much homework as usual, and set them to work in class, so he wouldn’t have to talk to them. It put his lesson plan a day behind, but they were mostly clever kids, so he wasn’t too worried about catching up.

He sat at his desk and graded the quizzes. Seeing Fandral’s grade made it a little better. The C on Loki’s quiz made it a lot worse. Fandral getting a C was an improvement. Loki getting a C on a quiz was wrong. Something was wrong, wrong, wrong.

Something heavy and unpleasant settled in his stomach.

When the bell rang, the kids scattered faster than usual, trying to avoid even more homework. He overheard one of them wondering, “Who pissed in Mr. Stark’s Wheaties?”

“Loki.” The word was out of his mouth before he had a chance to stop and consider. “My office.”

This, of course, was followed by a half-dozen ‘oooooh’s and ‘somebody’s in trouble!’s. One kid went so far as to ask Loki what he had done this time.

“Do you _all_ want to come to my office?” Tony barked at the remaining students, who immediately dispersed. Except for Fandral. The kid was more loyal than most people deserved. Not Loki, Tony thought to himself, but most people.

Fandral bit his lip and put a hand on Loki’s shoulder. He leaned down to where Loki was still sitting, and whispered something. A twinge of something that Tony refused to acknowledge as jealousy ran through him. He wanted to be able to be so casually affectionate with Loki.

Jesus Christ. Where had that come from?

_Please, Tony._ The rude little voice in his head chided him. _You saw this coming a mile away. You’ve just been trying to pretend it wasn’t there._

Loki shook his head at Fandral and stood up. “It’s fine,” he whispered loudly enough for Tony to hear. “I just did a crappy job on the quiz is all.”

Fandral frowned at him, and started to open his mouth. He stopped suddenly. “Tony.” He said it out loud as though it was a revelation. Uh-oh.

Loki looked up at him sharply and then his eyes narrowed. “Fucking Thor. He promised.” Okay, maybe ‘uh-oh’ didn’t cover it.

Fandral sat back down. “He was worried about you.”

“He’s a nosy ass who’s determined to make my life difficult.” Loki stood suddenly and started shoving things into his backpack. “So you know, my phone’s been scrubbed, and anyone who makes any claims is going to look like a complete idiot.”

This inspired a gusty sigh as Fandral leaned his head on his hand. “No one is…” He turned to look at Tony speculatively. “I don’t _think_ anyone is trying to hurt you, Loki.”

Loki glared at him. “Don’t. You. Dare.” He zipped his backpack shut with so much force that Tony was surprised it didn’t tear. “He’s the only one of us who hasn’t done anything wrong at all. Don’t you dare lay any of this at his feet.”

Tony couldn’t help his response to that. His eyebrows flew up, and his jaw went slack for a moment before he gathered his wits enough to squeak a disbelieving, “What?”

“It was the test, wasn’t it? The… Spring Break makeup test.” Fandral blushed and looked at the floor when he said it.

How odd. If he knew what Tony had done afterward, why was he still embarrassed about his part in the debacle? He’d been the only innocent in the whole mess. But apparently Loki thought that Tony was. That was really strange.

Pursing his lips, Loki glared at his friend. “What I do in my free time is none of your business. It’s none of my idiot brother’s business. And if I were seeing someone, I’d go tell them to delete any proof of that from their phone.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and then turned to Tony as if the conversation had nothing to do with him. “You needed to speak to me, Mr. Stark?”

“No. I think I get the idea. Just try to focus next time I give a quiz.” Tony’s voice came out almost unrecognizable to himself. It was soft and concerned. Maybe as terrified as he felt.

Loki nodded and swept out of the room without even looking at Tony again. It was sweet that he was trying to help, but the fact that he’d largely ignored Tony inexplicably hurt.

Loki’s brother and Fandral knew what was going on. If there had been any hope of keeping his secret before, it was pretty much gone. Even if Fandral wouldn’t tell Hill, he’d tell his friend. And then Loki’s brother would report it.

If he resigned now, could he avoid the whole issue? That would leave the school with no Physics teacher for the last two months of the school year. No long term substitute would pass Fandral, either, given the grade deficit he still had. Most teachers didn’t give full credit for makeup work that was three months late.

At least he wouldn’t be going to his father with his tail between his legs anymore. It would only be horribly embarrassing, instead of life-shatteringly shameful. It would be all over the tabloids, though. _Long lost Stark heir in pedophile scandal. Prison for gay Stark heir?_

It took Tony a moment to realize that Fandral was still sitting there looking at him.

Despite Loki’s attempt, Tony saw no way to play it off. Instead, he just tried to let it go, and move forward. “Something I can do for you, Fandral?”

“You’re _not_ trying to hurt him, right?” He looked so hopeful that it made Tony’s heart hurt.

Tony sighed and leaned on his desk. “If I were, do you think I’d answer that question honestly?”

Fandral frowned at that, but didn’t speak.

“No, I’m not.” Tony tried not to think about the fact that he’d just outed himself completely. If there had been any doubt in Fandral’s mind, Tony had just taken it out. “I would never do that on purpose.”

“He’s in love with you.” Fandral blurted out with no preamble.

Tony put on his best ‘dubious adult’ face and started to open his mouth, but he was cut off.

“I’m serious," Fandral insisted. "I know you think we’re all just kids who don’t know what we want, but even if we are, he’s not like that. He never has been. He decided what car he wanted when he was eight. He saved every single birthday and Christmas present for eight years. He worked every summer, doing whatever he could to make extra. When his father said it was too expensive for a first car, he offered to pay the difference himself.”

That… was actually quite impressive. Tony couldn’t imagine an eight year old foregoing all the things he wanted because some day in the distant future, he wanted a poison green sports car. But wanting a car and being in love were two distinctly different things.

Unbidden, an image of Loki popped into his mind. That enormous manic grin, the one that always managed to hide so much. _“I’m going to get married and be a househusband, of course.”_

No.

He couldn’t have meant…

But he had, and Tony knew it. Had known it all along, on some level. There was no Fandral-the-famous-model in the future Loki saw for himself.

_I only want the one cock._

_I’m going to marry someone experienced._

_The oven will need to be replaced._

It was something of both exhilarating and terrifying, first one, then the other, and back again. Of course, there was a reason the two feelings were so closely linked. Trying to deal with having feelings for someone was like a damned emotional rollercoaster. Oh fuck. That.

It wasn’t just Loki thinking he was in love with Tony. That was bad enough, but Tony could still convince himself that Loki’s teenage fantasies were running away with his imagination. Loki couldn’t actually be in love with Tony. He was too young to know what love meant.

Unfortunately, it was Tony having feelings for Loki, too. He utterly refused to call it love. He didn’t think he’d ever been in love. He had thought otherwise once, but when Chrissie had walked away, he’d gotten over it. You weren’t supposed to ‘get over’ love, were you?

Tony wasn’t even sure he knew what love was. How could Loki?

But maybe Loki did. Maybe it was just Tony who was broken.

“Mr. Stark?” Fandral’s voice was moving closer, and it brought his attention back to the present. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m serious. He’s been working on this all year, and if he’s… if you think he’s gotten what he wants, you’re underestimating him.”

Tony glanced at the doors of his classroom and office, making sure they were firmly closed. He dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “I see your point, Fandral. He tends to get what he wants.”

Fandral snorted. “You have no idea, Sir.”

“I think I have a better clue than you know.” The image of Loki under his desk came to mind. Not that it was unusual for that to happen, but generally, it had just been as masturbation fodder. Of course, his damned cock couldn’t tell the difference. He deliberately recalled Loki’s creepy overly-intense father, and it calmed down. “Thor doesn’t know about everything yet, I take it?”

Leaning against the desk, Fandral looked hard at him for a moment. Seeking the answers to the universe on Tony’s face? “He told me he picked up Loki’s phone by mistake. Opened it and found a text conversation about sex with someone named Tony.”

Interesting. Tony would have thought that Loki would keep his phone locked. Was there a logical reason for it, or had Loki wanted to get caught? Wait. “You said ‘he told me.’ You don’t believe him?”

“He and Loki haven’t been getting along terribly well this year. He’s a protective older brother, and he’s worried Loki’s been getting up to no good. Especially since their father announced that Loki was failing a class.” Fandral went from frowning speculatively to scowling outright when the conversation turned to Odin.

Tony had intended to pump Fandral for information about Thor’s intentions, but… “Wait, he did what?” What kind of bastard father announced that his kid was failing a class to the whole family?

Fandral nodded. “Thor and his friends were home from college, and we were all sitting around the dinner table. Loki said something about some math class not being right for Thor. Statistics, I think? Odin said he had no right to talk, since he was failing Physics.”

“Jesus Christ. That’s fucked up.” Tony shook his head incredulously and leaned against the desk himself. “Knew I didn’t like him the first time I met him, but that’s unbelievable.”

For some reason, this made Fandral grin. He went serious again when he spoke, though. “Sometimes I think he hates Loki. My parents don’t think I’m a prize, but they’re at least proud of the things I manage to get right.”

It was Tony’s turn to snort. “Like being obscenely handsome, and getting all the girls?”

“More like not getting all the girls pregnant. My dad always says I should stick with the boys until I’m ready to settle down.” The kid paused for a moment to think about it. “Come to think of it, my parents are pretty amazing. They aren’t even angry with me for all this science stuff. They just think I’m stupid.”

That got Tony’s back up a bit. “They’re wrong. There’s a difference between being stupid and not being good at one thing. And I’m not even convinced you’re so bad at science. I mean, you _did_ just get a C on the surprise quiz.”

This brought out that million watt girl-melting smile of Fandral’s. “Thanks, Mr. Stark. But Loki.” He snapped the line of conversation back to his initial intended target, and Tony was surprised and impressed. “Because of the Physics thing, Thor’s been worried that Loki was on drugs, or joining a street gang or some random ridiculous thing. He wouldn’t listen to me when I said that wasn’t it.”

It was impossible to hold back his laughter at that.

Fandral grinned in response. “Thor’s a good brother, he’s just a little naïve sometimes. And a little like a hammer, when a fencing foil would have been a better option. They don’t even have the same brand of phone, and Loki’s is in a shiny green case.”

Tony nodded. He’d seen the case in question more than once. “So he thought he’d nab himself a drug dealer, or something like that.”

“And instead, he opened the closet door.” Fandral sighed dramatically.

Blinking, Tony stared at the kid for a moment. “Wait,” his voice sounded strangled, even in his own ears. “This is all about Loki being _gay_?”

“Well he doesn’t know who you are, Mr. Stark. And even if he did, he’d never hit on the truth, given the whole failing Physics issue.” Fandral shrugged Tony’s concerns away as though they’d been nothing at all. “I doubt he got much of a look at the actual conversation, other than seeing that it was about sex.”

What had the last comment been? Tony pulled out his phone and found the conversation. It really had been stupid of him to save it at all.

_You win. Now all I can think about is you sucking my cock._

He blushed bright red at the memory of the childish back-and-forth. Not exactly the first impression he wanted anyone to have of him.

Fandral raised an eyebrow, but Tony just shook his head and changed the subject. “I take it that homosexuality is an issue for Thor?” Tony was beginning to get a picture he didn’t much like.

Fandral threw his hands up as though to defend himself. “Oh, no! Nothing like that! It was just a surprise to him. And he knows Odin won’t like it, so he’s worried that ‘it’s making Loki act out.’ He thinks that the stress of being gay is why Loki is getting a bad grade in your class.”

There was a pause, and they both digested the realization of that statement, and then both laughed.

Suddenly, Fandral seemed to realize something. “I’m not going to tell him, Mr. Stark.”

“Shouldn’t you?” Tony asked, surprised to find himself serious. “If he gets too worried, he might go to his father, and that won’t end with anyone happy.”

That brought out a frown, and a moment’s consideration. “But if I tell him, and he talks to Odin anyway?”

“Then my life as I know it is over. Same if you don’t tell him and he snoops more. Same if you tell him a half-truth to cover my ass, and he doesn’t believe you, so he harasses you into telling him everything. You’re a terrible liar, FYI.” Tony laid out the facts as best he could, trying not to flinch at the thought of every way his life could be ruined by a guy he’d never even met.

All of this made Fandral’s mouth fall open. “You must really care about him.”

“What?” That was possibly the most confusing thing Tony had ever been told.

Fandral rolled his eyes. “Well you’re not that hard up for sex. Maybe one time could be a mistake, like Spring Break. Twice could be Loki being pushy. But that’s not what’s going on here.” The boy shook his head vehemently. “You’re too smart to be controlled by your cock. And you really are putting your whole life on the line. You—” he paused and looked around worriedly, “you could lose your job, and your place in the community. And you’re risking that for him.”

That was when the door banged open.

Tony’s heart leapt into his throat, and he had to fight to keep his lunch down. He grasped the edge of the desk with both hands, and waited for Hill, or Bruce, or even Thor — whom he didn’t think he’d ever met — to start laying into him.

It was Loki.

Tony all but collapsed onto his desk. “What the hell, Loki?” He demanded, his voice still breathy from the shock.

Loki glared at Fandral. “Why are you still here? You should have left ages ago. What the hell are you doing? Spying for fucking Thor?”

“Whoa there, Green Eyes, I’m gonna need you to take it down four or five notches, there.” Tony held his hands up placatingly.

Loki turned the look to him, and it softened considerably in the shift. “I’m sorry about this, Mr. Stark. I never—”

“Stop it, Loki.” Fandral said in a surprising no-nonsense voice. “I was just getting a feel for Mr. Stark’s take on the situation. I have it now. We need to talk to Thor, and he’ll want to talk to Mr. Stark, too. Have you been waiting just outside the door the whole time?”

Loki frowned at his friend for a long moment, obviously considering. Then he shook his head. “On the bench down the hall. But no one came in or left. I thought… It doesn’t matter. I got tired of waiting.”

Fandral rolled his eyes at Loki. “You thought I was trying my own hand?”

“Okay, guys. Not a piece of meat and right here in the room.” Tony moved to stand between the two of them. “Fandral, I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m sure you’ll do whatever you think is best for your friend.” He failed to specify which friend, but he and Fandral both knew which friend he meant.

“No!” Loki protested, obviously ready for a fight.

Tony put a hand on his shoulder, belatedly realizing that it was an inappropriately familiar gesture for school. “Trust me, Loki, and trust him. He’s your friend. Why don’t you drive him home? You can talk about it.”

Loki continued frowning, but his resolve was obviously weakening. “I’ll see you in class tomorrow?” Tony noted the careful wording. Specifying a time and a place, not just later today, or possibly tomorrow in prison.

He nodded, though his heart was still pounding in his chest. What if Fandral did tell Thor, and Thor decided to go to Odin? “That’s up to you two, I guess. But I’ll be here if I can.”

Loki didn’t look particularly happy about it, but when Fandral grabbed his arm and pulled him away, he didn’t protest. He just turned his head and watched Tony and he allowed himself to be dragged out.

Tony blew him a kiss.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to start by saying that Coveted isn't updating today. I know, I'm sad too. Pluma has not run off, though! It's just that the Frostiron Bang is due this week, and the deadline has sort of snuck up suddenly. She's trying to finish an enormous solo story before the deadline, and you're going to LOVE it. And me, I have a full time job and school... and I'm mostly using the excuse to write chapters of other stories. Hopefully those are good, too. 
> 
> So anyway, we're not going away! Hopefully we'll be back to a regular update schedule very soon, and much more Sex Ed and Coveted will be coming your way.


	16. the plague

Trust Tony to come down with some horrific stomach bug the next day. He put a special note in for his substitute to make it clear that he was just a little under the weather, on the pretense that he wanted everyone to know that he’d be back soon and, more importantly, the upcoming test was going to happen on schedule.

He was, however, worried that it would take him a few days to get back on his feet. He felt like death warmed over, and was barely coherent enough to call and warn the school, send sub plans, and then curl back up in bed. He must have sounded bad on the phone, since Maria Hill of all people told him to have a cup of tea and get better soon.

It was a silly suggestion that people tended to make when they thought you sounded close to death. As though a truly sick person had the energy to get out of bed, make tea, and then drink it. Tony wanted to do none of those things. He hadn’t even mustered the energy to move his laptop from the precarious position on the corner of the bed where he’d left it in after sending his substitute the e-mail.

Instead, he curled up in a ball and tried not to move too much, except for when he had the urge to run to the bathroom and become violently ill. He put a trash can next to the side of his bed after the first time, just in case he didn’t make it. He doubted that was a smell that came out of bedclothes, but hey, he'd rather buy more than have to run in his state.

While he tried to sleep, his mind kept turning back to the conversation the day before. If he needed days to recover, though, what would Loki do? Nothing crazy or overdramatic, he hoped.

As he was swiftly becoming accustomed to, Tony found that he had underestimated Loki.

 

*

 

He was dreaming. He’d finally gotten to sleep, shivering beneath every blanket on his bed, teeth chattering as though he was trapped outside in the middle of January.

In his dreams, he was huddled up next to a tree in some ghastly snow-covered forest. He wondered if this was what Canada was like. Everything was too hard and too cold, and he seemed to be wearing just his boxers and a t-shirt. The snow glowed brightly from within, a blue-white that was too much for his eyes to accept. He tried to cover his face with his arms, but it didn’t help.

Suddenly Loki was there, in that awful place. Tony wanted to warn him off, to tell him that he should get back to some place where he wouldn’t die of hypothermia, but Loki just put a finger to his lips. He wrapped a warm blanket around Tony, and then snuggled up next to him and pulled himself close. He ran a hand through Tony’s hair and told him that everything would be alright.

Everything faded around him, and he slept.

Tony woke to the feeling of something being pushed between his lips. He turned his head irritably. “No’ now, Loki.”

A chuckle above him caught his attention. Wait. He was at home. Sick. Alone?

“I’m not sure whether to be amused that you’re dreaming of my cock, or horrified that you’ve equated it with a thermometer. Surely it’s not that unimpressive?” Loki’s voice was largely amused, but there was a tiny note of worry. What a thoroughly teenaged-boy thing to have anxiety about. But penis size wasn’t the part of this situation that was supposed to worry Tony. Was it?

It was so cold.

Tony opened his eyes, and found himself looking up into beautiful green pools of concern. “How do you feel? Could you try some water? I’m sure you’re dehydrated.”

Tony’s stomach rebelled at the thought of consuming anything. He quickly shook his head back and forth, then immediately wished he hadn’t. He waited a moment for the world to stop being made of pain and nausea, before cracking one eye open again. With effort, he managed to choke out a single word without setting his stomach off again. “How?”

“How?” Loki’s face became guarded. “How did I find out you were sick?”

Tony rolled his eyes and tried to shake his head, and was once again sorry he had moved. He just didn't learn, did he?

“Stop that. Don’t worry about me. You just lie there and rest.” Loki pulled a damp rag from Tony’s forehead — a rag that Tony hadn’t realized was there. He walked off muttering, “Just a little under the weather, my ass.”

When he came back with a newly dampened rag, Tony tried again. “Key?” His voice sounded pathetically weak.

Loki sighed. “No. I’m not that creepy. I… I picked the lock.”

Tony worked one eye back open and tried to raise an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that!” Loki hissed, his voice a mere irritated whisper so as to avoid paining Tony’s head. “I was worried about you. You could have been dying. When I got here, you looked like you might. You kept mumbling something about Canada being a dangerous place, and how I should leave you behind and save myself.”

Once again, Tony tried his voice. “Fine tomorrow.”

Loki snorted. “No, you won’t be. I already marked you absent tomorrow and sent in your lesson plan. They were both already loaded on your laptop.” Loki motioned toward a chair in the corner. “I moved it, by the way, so that you wouldn’t accidentally kick it onto the floor.”

Tony didn’t know what to say to that. It was a little overwhelming. Loki had come to take care of him. “Time?” he asked.

“Almost six.” Loki’s voice was all business, but his hands were soft and gentle as he stroked the side of Tony’s face. “And if you don’t show a huge improvement by the time I’m done at school tomorrow, I’ll mark you absent for Thursday, too. You won’t even be conscious enough to stop me.”

“Fandral?” Tony tried to continue furthering the conversation one word at a time.

Loki scowled. “When you feel better.”

Well crap. That couldn’t be a good sign. “That bad?”

“No.” Loki looked irritated and worried, putting the lie to his words. Tony wondered how bad it was. His question must have shown in his eyes, because Loki sighed. “Thor wants to meet you. Fandral convinced him to keep his mouth shut, but he’s still being annoying.”

Tony tried to keep his shoulders from shaking in laughter, as every movement hurt. It was hard, though, when Loki was being so personally offended by the fact that his brother loved him.

The amusement from Tony appeared to make Loki even more irritated. “It isn’t funny. Thor is a nosy ass, and what I choose to do with my ass is none of his business.”

“Brother.” Tony hadn’t ever had a brother, but he was reasonably sure that explained everything. Brothers were supposed to worry about each other, weren’t they? And Thor didn’t really have a lot of options on how to protect his brother from a possible sexual predator.

Loki frowned, but he didn’t say anything. He just ran his wet cloth across Tony’s forehead and petted his hair with the other hand.

Tony hadn’t been so well taken care of since his nanny left when he was eight years old. He’d sobbed and clung to her leg, begging her not to go, telling her that she was the only person in the world who loved him. Logically, he knew that it wasn’t completely true. Emotionally, though, she had been the one person who had always been there when he needed something. His parents had always been busy people — it was why they had hired a nanny. He had always wanted more attention than any one person could give, though.

He wondered if Loki would get tired of how much attention he demanded.

Then it occurred to him that he was once again thinking of the situation like a real relationship. His fevered brain knew that there were holes in the idea that he and Loki were in a relationship, but he was struggling to put his finger on any of them. He just wanted to curl up with his goddamned boyfriend and sleep for a month. Was that so much to ask?

Suddenly, he remembered. “You’re gonna leave.”

Loki’s fingers in his hair stilled for a moment, then continued as though nothing had happened. “I don’t think you’re in any position to make me, Tony.”

“Never make you go.” Tony whispered. “Can’t make you stay.” That was it, wasn’t it? Loki was going to leave, and there was nothing Tony could do about it. Everyone always eventually left Tony. The nanny, his parents, Chrissie, even fricking Obadiah.

Tony had just realized that Loki was still in the room and had been silent for some time, when a slender arm wrapped around him and pulled him in.

He frowned, and lightly pushed on Loki’s chest. “Don’t wanna touch me.” He’d been feverish and throwing up all day. He cringed to think how he must look and smell.  Wait. His brain started to go back over his own logic of the previous minutes, and he cringed. Oh geez. Loki was going to think he was the most pathetic clingy man-child that ever lived.

Loki had gone back to petting his head, though. “Hush, Tony. Go back to sleep. We’ll see if you can get some water down later and then maybe a fever reducer in the morning.”

“Gotta go school.” Tony honestly wasn’t sure which of them he was talking about. Both, really. Definitely Loki, though.

Loki’s hand just kept running rhythmically through his hair, the soft tempo lulling him to sleep. “I’ll go to school tomorrow,” Loki whispered as he dropped off, “so that no one finds anything suspicious. But my mother thinks I’m staying with Fandral to help with his science work, so I’ll be back as soon as the day is over.”

Tony was too far asleep to question Loki’s plan. He wasn’t sure he would, even if he were completely conscious. It was nice to be cared about, again.

 

*

 

The next time he woke, it was because his phone was ringing. Apparently, it was seven in the morning.

Even stranger than that, it was Maria Hill. He reached out and smacked the speakerphone button so that he wouldn’t have to move his head and answered groggily, “’lo?”

“Tony, I was just calling to check on you. I saw that you were out today, and…” He could hear hesitation in her voice, but she went on after a moment. “I know that you live alone, and you sounded awful yesterday.”

He had to think about that for a minute before understanding what she was getting at. “Ya ‘fraid I’s dead, Hill?”

“Frankly, you sound like you’re on the brink. Should I be calling an ambulance?” Her no nonsense tone actually had a note of concern. If he’d been more conscious, he’d have been stunned and touched.

“M’Ok.” He heard her snort on the other end of the line, and felt a need to continue. “M’better. Don’ wan’ die. Havn’ thrown up in… hours.”

She sighed, and he wondered whether it was disappointment or relief. Okay, that wasn’t fair; she was being nice for a change, and he should appreciate that. “If you’re sure, Tony. Remember, 24 hours fever free before you can come back, so given the way you sound now, I don’t want to see you here tomorrow.”

“Be fine ‘morrow.” Tony tried to protest.

She was having none of it, though. “Which is why you can’t string together a full sentence.” Another sigh. “Look, Tony, you don’t have to prove anything. You’re a good teacher.”

At any other time, he would have said something snarky, or just let it go. But being sick made him more vulnerable in every way, it seemed, as his response was a plaintive (read: whiny), “Then why don’ ya like me?”

There was a long pause, followed by a sigh. “Because I’ve known since the day they hired you that we were going to lose you someday. I don’t like breaking in new teachers.”

“Not leavin’. Tol’ Dad. Have a job t’do.” Wow. Was he having a half-conscious heart-to-heart with Maria Hill of all people?

“Your father wants you to leave us.” She sounded resigned. “You’re planning on finishing your contract year with us, though?”

“No’ leavin’.” Tony insisted. “Like teachin’. Don’ wanna make weapons.”

“I don’t get it, Tony. You could be on easy street, making millions of dollars doing nothing at all. Why are you here?” It seemed odd that she suddenly wanted to talk, but it might be the only civil conversation he ever got out of her.

He continued doggedly trying to get his point across. “Like teachin’. Bein’ rich an’ stupid ‘s not as fun ‘s ya think. Like doin’ somethin’ that doesn’ kill people. Wanna help.”

There was a long silence, and Tony replayed his words, trying to figure out if they had somehow been offensive. He couldn’t find the offense, if he’d given one.

He started wondering if the call had dropped, when he heard her say, “Oh.” Like that was all there was to it.

“Oh?” He asked, confused.

“Go get some rest, Tony.” She sounded positively human as she continued. “We’ll see you Friday. Or next week. When you feel better.”

“Okie,” he managed to get out, as he reached out to press the ‘end call’ button. He picked up the phone and moved to toss it onto the nightstand, when movement caught his eye.

He turned to the doorway, and there was Loki, carrying a tray and looking like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.

Fuck. How much had he heard?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Loki was looking at the ceiling, then the floor, and even the tray in front of him, but he didn’t meet Tony’s eyes.

He’d heard it all, then. Or enough, anyway.

“Loki…” Tony tried to push himself up, to move closer to Loki, but he felt as weak as his mother’s coffee. Paranoid, he checked his phone to make sure it had disconnected; then he turned it off, just to be sure. “M’sorry, Loki. I—”

Loki frowned and immediately interrupted. “I brought you tea. I know you didn’t want anything last night, but you need to try to get some liquid in you. And crackers. I don’t know why, but it’s what my mother always gives me when I’m sick. Maybe tonight, you can try something more substantial.”

“You made tea?” Tony was suddenly feeling very awake. He hoped that the queasiness was from his unease at the situation with Loki, and not that he was about to throw up again.

No such luck. His stomach started roiling, and he threw himself out of bed and into the bathroom as fast as he could, reaching the toilet just in time to heave into it. There was nothing but bile in his stomach, but it stubbornly refused to stop expelling, even when there was nothing left to lose.

After a moment, Tony felt a soothing hand running through his hair. Was Loki sitting with him while he threw up? Was that weird, or comforting? Both. And yet… mostly comforting.

By the time his stomach settled, his head was pounding in protest. That was when he felt that blessed cool wet rag on his forehead again.

“I’m sorry that I’m not very good at taking care of sick people.” Loki said so quietly that Tony almost missed it. “I wish there was more I could do.” The way his voice quavered a bit, Tony worried that Loki was crying.

He didn’t look up, thinking that focusing on the not throwing up was a good excuse for pretty much anything. “M’Ok.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe that any more than Miss Hill did.” Loki retorted. “And she couldn’t even see how pale and pathetic you look.”

Tony tried to laugh, but it came out as one single hissed chuckle, before his voice gave out and his head hurt too much to do it again. “Good t’know. Feelin’ sexy too.”

“Sorry, Tony. This may be the only time I’ve ever even thought this, but you are not sexy right now.” Loki leaned in and hooked his arm around Tony, hand under the opposite arm, and helped pull him up off the floor. He braced himself on the counter to keep Tony’s larger mass from toppling him.

Tony’s eyes met the counter, and the time he’d laid Loki across it and fucked him popped into his mind. Loki whimpering his name, pushing back against him… And suddenly he was nauseous, in pain, and turned on. That was a feeling he never wanted to duplicate in his whole life.

He leaned on the counter heavily for a moment before Loki gave him a tiny pull with the hand still wedged under his arm. “Come on. We need to get you back to bed, so you can have a drink, and then get some more sleep.”

“Don’ wan’ a drink,” Tony protested in a whiny child’s voice, leaning against Loki and allowing himself to be tugged out of the bathroom. When they arrived at the bed, Loki set him down ever so gently, wrapped him up in sheet and blankets again, set the trashcan right next to where his head was, and poured him a cup of tea.

“Just tea, I’m afraid. Anything to go in it would be bad for you right now.” He held it to Tony’s closed lips until Tony grudgingly took a sip. It was actually surprisingly good. It probably helped that he was very dehydrated and hadn’t kept food down in more than a day. He tried not to think about throwing up while putting something into his stomach.

Loki made him drink half the cup before setting it down, going into the bathroom for a minute, and coming back with a fresh cool wet washcloth. It was odd how heavenly a cool washcloth felt, when the rest of him was shivering violently.

“I really shouldn’t leave you alone.” Loki frowned at him. “Maybe I could afford to miss the day…”

“Not gon’ graduate early w’that att’tude,” Tony protested. For some reason, Loki graduating early seemed incredibly important. Like the fact that he had less than a year left in high school made everything better.

Pouting adorably, Loki sighed and nodded. “I’ll be back right after school, though. And I’m taking your house keys with me, so I don’t have to pick the lock again.”

“Kay.” Tony wasn’t sure that he would protest, even if he had the strength to. It was kind of nice, having someone around who cared. On the other hand, he was pretty sure that he was falling asleep again. Loki’s face kept going dark, then reappearing. When he was there, he looked unhappy. Determined to reassure Loki that he was fine, he smiled and said, “Hav’nice day at work, Honey.”

It wasn’t until a few hours later that he decided that had probably been a strange thing to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, it's us! (I say, as though Pluma has already posted...) No smut this chapter, and probably none next. Where did this whole 'plot' thing come from? 
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!


	17. it's not the girl scouts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Everyone must check out the amazing art that Horns-of-Mischief made for Loki taking care of sick Tony.](http://horns-of-mischief.tumblr.com/post/100249027823/tony-opened-his-eyes-and-found-himself-looking)

Tony slept fitfully through the day, and when he woke it was to the smell of…

Wait, was that _chicken_?

That seemed wrong. It didn’t make him immediately want to retch, though, which seemed like a step in the right direction. On the other hand, the smell could only be happening because Loki was there. Why he thought chicken was a good idea, Tony wasn’t sure.

His presence meant that they were going to have to deal with a few things, though.

First, there was the fact that Loki had heard the conversation with Hill. Unless Loki was completely oblivious, that meant he knew who Tony had been before teaching. And Loki, of course, was not oblivious in any percentage. He was even more observant than Tony gave himself credit for, and that meant he knew.

Second, there were the incoherent ramblings of the previous twenty four hours. Trying to save Loki from the perils of Canada, having a childish fit of melodrama over not being able to make him stay, and calling him Honey.

The tiny bit of adult remaining in Tony pointed out that he should actually be concerned about Loki having a key to his house, and sneaking in, and, perhaps most importantly, how okay they both seemed to be with those things.

Somehow, those things didn’t seem particularly important. The fact that someone had cared enough about him to break into his house felt more sweet than creepy-stalker-y. Which meant that he was either hopelessly infatuated, or he had turned into the useless heroine in a ridiculous vampire romance novel.

He’d prefer to be dead than sparkly-undead, so he hoped that he had just become mentally unstable.

Regardless of the fact that they would have to handle the mess that came with having emotions, Loki had come. He had stayed with Tony, and snuggled with him—even as smelly as he had to be—and forced him to drink tea.

…Maybe Loki really did love him.

What the hell would he do? What could he say? ‘ _Thanks, and I really appreciate it, but I’m incapable of loving anyone in return_ ’ didn’t seem like the kind of thing one said to a person they cared about. And Tony did care, was coming to care quite a lot. Could that be enough?

The smell of chicken grew stronger as the door slowly opened. Loki came through carrying the tray from earlier, but this time it held a pot of tea and a bowl. Ahh. Chicken soup, then. His sense of smell was blowing things out of proportion, because of the lack of actual food in the previous forty eight hours.

His stomach growled in agreement with his nose’s assessment.

Loki’s grin was brilliant. “Sounds like you’re ready to try some food. It’s just broth, but I thought you should try for something with some protein.”

With some effort, Tony turned himself onto his back. Trying to sit up was still an exercise in frustration, but Loki just smiled beatifically and set the tray down on the bedside table before sitting down on the bed. Then, he ran a hand through Tony’s hair, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. The back of his hand paused on Tony’s forehead in a gesture exacted by his nanny dozens of times in his childhood.

Was Loki actually checking for a fever?

Given the frown and return of the cold compress a moment later, the answer was yes. As appreciative as Tony was of the blessed cooling cloth, he weakly protested by reaching in the direction of the soup.

“It’s okay, Tony. I’ll take care of everything.” Loki took Tony’s outstretched hand and folded it back to his own chest. “You just try to conserve your energy.”

As he had never done for his nanny, Tony complied without question. It had been too long since he’d been pampered like someone thought he was a precious thing. He wasn’t going to risk losing it by being an entitled jackass. Loki seemed delighted by his acquiescence. 

Loki proceeded to help him sit up slightly, and then spoon-fed him bits of broth. It took them a few tries to get the angle right, but Loki wiped up with a soft napkin any broth that missed Tony's mouth and trickled down his chin. If he’d been less sick, it could have been a decidedly positive experience.

 _Mental note_ , he told himself _, when feeling better, presuming Loki hasn’t run screaming away, feed him. Or maybe eat off his body. Cover him with caramel, and lick it off. Mmmm… Loki._ On the other hand, just then was not the time to be having sexual fantasies. Oh well.

After five minutes of soup and silence, Loki set the spoon down and ran his hands through Tony’s hair again. Tony was bitten by the urge to purr like a cat. Too bad he had no idea how to do so.

“Do you think you could get a fever-reducer down? You had some acetaminophen in the bathroom.” He motioned toward the tray, which did indeed hold two tiny pills in addition to the dishes.

Tony tried not to make a face like a nine-year-old, and nodded mutely.

“Let’s try one and see if it stays down, okay?” Loki’s voice was completely accepting. There didn’t seem to be a trace of disgust at Tony’s petulance.

For that, Tony was willing to try anything. He docilely allowed Loki to put a pill in his mouth and then follow it up with a spoonful of broth. Swallowing was exceptionally difficult — his throat was raw and irritated from throwing up for almost two days. He did his best, but he was reasonably sure that he looked twice as pathetic as he felt.

Loki was frowning. “Dean Hill was right. You’re not going to work tomorrow.”

Tony opened his mouth to protest, and Loki took the opportunity to feed him more broth. And just like that, he didn’t have the energy to question it anymore. He just nodded and accepted the continued spoon-feeding.

Another few minutes, and Tony’s stomach announced that it was finished accepting food by becoming distinctly queasy again. Tony held up a hand, and Loki nodded.

“Do you need to go into the bathroom?” he asked worriedly, ghosting his hands over Tony’s hair, trying not to jostle or otherwise worsen the situation.

“M’ok.” Tony managed to get out without getting sick. He settled back against the pillows and closed his eyes. “Sorry.”

He heard the frown in Loki’s voice when he responded. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. Nothing, Tony.”

There were a dozen things Tony wanted to say. Yes, he did have things to be sorry about. Even ignoring the fact that their relationship was unethical and was unquestionably statutory rape, there were so many things to be sorry for. He silently started to recount them to himself. Not telling Loki about his previous life. Depending on Loki like an invalid. The childish demands for attention and affection. The inability to comprehend love.

Did he really want to start a conversation about any of those things right then? Was it going to be better if he waited until he wasn’t sick? The manipulative part of his brain pointed out that at least while he was sick, he had an out if the discussion got too heated.

Could he really do that to Loki, though?

To his amazement, he found that he couldn’t. He couldn’t start a conversation on something serious, when he knew he was planning to back out when it got difficult.

“Don’t do that.” Loki’s voice broke his runaway thought train. “That look is making me nervous. It’s like someone just stole your favorite toy and you can’t figure out why.”

Tony started to shake his head in denial, but thought better of it before he followed through and made himself feel even worse.

An irritating sort of buzzing, ringing sound split the air, and Tony cringed. What the hell was that? Fuck, it hurt his head.

Loki reacted just as violently to the noise, standing and cursing under his breath. He reached into his pocket, and… ahh, his phone. He stabbed a button angrily and hissed “What do you want, you idiot?” He hardly paused for a few seconds before following it up with: “That’s none of your damned business. What are you going to do, tell Odin I lied about going to Fandral’s? Do you think he’ll be at all surprised? Last time he just warned me not to get anyone pregnant, because he wouldn’t help ‘fix it’ if I did.”

Loki mouthed an apology at Tony and took the conversation out into the hallway.

Tony’s disgust for Loki’s one-eyed bastard of a father increased. What kind of father said things like that to his teenage son? Even Howard’s version had been more sensitive. More along the lines of ‘be careful, because lots of girls would love to get ‘accidentally’ pregnant with a Stark heir.’

Actually, that wasn’t better, was it? It wasn’t exactly Howard’s fault, since it was true, but it had certainly made Tony skeptical about any woman who had shown interest in him. Actually, it might have something to do with why he had always favored dalliances with men, despite finding both genders attractive. No man was going to claim pregnancy with a Stark heir.

Loki’s voice raised into a normal, if strained, conversational level, occasionally raising above even that. Tony only caught occasional words and phrases like ‘nosy asshole,’ and ‘my life, dammit.’

After a few minutes, he came back in looking embarrassed and angry. “I’m sorry. I turned it off.”

Tony frowned at that. Loki tried to shush him with more soup when he opened his mouth, but Tony put a restraining hand on his. It wouldn’t have stopped anyone who was determined, but thankfully, Loki was more concerned with Tony’s opinion than with shutting him up.

“It’s okay.” Tony decided to go the simple route, and hope that Loki would see his sincerity without a need for eloquence. He wasn’t really a man of artistic words anyway. Clever words, sure, but Tony was never going to be a poet.

“That I’m getting menacing phone calls from my idiot brother who’s demanding to meet you?” Loki looked like he was certain the answer to this query was negative.

“Yes.” Tony tried to smile and hoped against hope that it didn’t look as fake as it felt. It wasn’t fake. Loki’s father was a worthless asshole. Tony was kind of glad that someone cared enough about Loki to be concerned with the situation, even if the result was going to make his life harder. Even pissing him off as it did, it had to be a positive impact on Loki’s self-worth.

Loki sat on the edge of the bed again and looked at him for a long moment. “You really don’t mind, do you? Thor could ruin your life.”

Tony had to fight not to nod along. “Yeah, he could. No, I don’t.”

“Why?” Loki’s voice had gone small and nervous. Tony took a second to consider the fact that just three weeks earlier, he’d have viewed that innocent worry as an enormous turn-off. Now, it was just Loki being nervous. And anything that made Loki other-than-happy just made Tony want to hug him.

For some reason, that fact made him decide to take another huge stride down the road to hell. “I like that he cares about you. More people should.”

Loki’s mouth fell open, and he just stared at Tony for a minute. Then he turned to look at the soup bowl, blinking repeatedly in what Tony refused to acknowledge as an attempt to blink back tears. Loki crying could only ever be bad.

“Do you want more soup?” Loki tried, and failed, to ask lightly.

“No.” His stomach was definitely finished with food for the time being. Instead, he moved his arms away from his torso, and weakly motioned Loki to move in. “Just want you here.”

And it was true. He wanted nothing more than to lie there on his bed, wrapped up in the blankets with Loki.

Without another question or comment, Loki granted his wish.

 

*

 

When he woke in the morning alone, he was bereft. Which was pathetic. Of course Loki wasn’t going to _stay_. The fact that he’d come at all was amazing.

Stunningly, Tony felt at least vaguely human for the first time in days.

The tray of soup was gone, not that drinking cold chicken soup would have been a good plan anyway, but there had been tea… In its place, Tony found a bottle of water, and a neat line of four more acetaminophen.

Also, there was a note.

_Please try another if you wake. It seemed to help your fever. I sent in your absence. Will be back to check on you in the morning._

_< 3 Loki_

He had actually drawn a little heart emoticon on the note. Safer than actually saying ‘love, Loki’? Well yes, actually. It was adorable, and didn’t make Tony want to pack a bag and move to Uruguay.

With effort, he managed to get the water bottle open, and take one of the pills. He was taking orders from his… boyfriend? Oh, that was a seriously problematic view of what was happening. As long as one was teacher and the other student, ‘boyfriend’ was not an option.

 _What about June, when he’s not **your** student anymore?_ His treacherous brain asked in that sly villainous tone that it took when it was trying to convince him to do things like give unsolvable problems on tests, or take over the world.

He had a whole month before he needed to worry about that. That could be a long time.

Couldn’t it?

 

*

 

When he woke again hours later, he felt downright refreshed. He took another of the pills Loki had left him, and then spent five minutes trying to decide what to do. Then the AC flipped on, and the breeze from the vent over his head gave him a good whiff of… himself. Yuck. A shower, then.

Pulling himself out of bed, he briefly thought about starting by changing the bedding, but that seemed like an exhausting amount of work. Maybe he’d sleep in the guest room that night instead. Besides, now that he was thinking about it, the fact that he hadn’t bathed in days was really bothering him. His scalp itched from lack of washing, and his teeth were absolutely disgusting.

He wandered into the bathroom, but the shower seemed somehow menacing, with its enormous empty space intended for standing. Standing was… tiring. He moved to the whirlpool tub instead, and started the water running.

Then he got ambitious, and went to get his toothbrush. It was a lot of effort, wetting the brush, squeezing the paste onto it, and then actually moving it back and forth across his teeth. A few minutes later, though, after rinsing his mouth, he felt like the beginning of a new man.

The bathtub was half full when he heard a sound from downstairs. Loki.

Oh gods, Loki.

All the things he’d said while sick. All the things he’d realized about himself, and Loki, and their _relationship_.

And yet, despite his concern about facing the situation, he really wanted to see Loki; wanted to cuddle up together in his bed (with clean sheets, of course) and never have to worry about work, or school, or Loki’s age or Tony’s emotional incompetence again.

Decisively, he turned the water off and headed down the stairs. They were exhausting work, those stairs, and soon his hands hurt from grabbing onto the railing a little too hard. The distinctive smell of something cooking drew him toward the kitchen. His stomach was growling, which seemed like a good sign. His heart was beating way too fast, which was definitely not a good sign.

Loki was standing at the stove, whistling and stirring something in a saucepan. The smell of tomatoes pervaded the kitchen. Tomato soup?

Tony's stomach growled again.

At the noise, Loki’s head popped up and turned to find him in the doorway. With those enormous green eyes, perfect pale skin, and messy black hair, he looked like some kind of naughty angel, come to repay Tony for whatever good deed he might have accidentally managed along the way. He was also smiling brightly. “You’re awake! And out of bed!”

Tony smiled wanly. “I even brushed my teeth. Was gonna take a bath, but then heard you come in.”

“I should have waited a few more minutes to arrive, you say?” His eyes sparkled with their usual mischief, and he looked at Tony speculatively for a moment before turning to pour soup into a waiting bowl. “I suppose that’s okay. It’ll give me a chance to help you out.” He winked as he turned and set the bowl down in front of Tony.

The notion of Loki helping him in the bathtub was either a horrifying glimpse into the future of being in a relationship with someone ten years younger than himself, or an excellent opportunity for… _shenanigans_. He’d had enough of misery to last the rest of the year, so he opted to focus on the hopeful possibility of shenanigans.

He’d assumed that his libido would take quite a while to return after being sick, but the look Loki was giving him was going to change his mind very quickly.

Wait. Had he just suggested, even if only to himself, that Loki was going to give him sponge baths in his old age?

He shook his head in an attempt to clear it of nonsense, and set upon his soup like a man who’d been weeks without sustenance. When Loki added a piece of toast to his meal, he was reasonably sure he was dreaming again. There was no way tomato soup and dry toast could taste that good.

He only finished half of it, but it was heavenly, and Loki seemed satisfied with his performance. Not that Loki had ever seemed dissatisfied with his performance in the past…

When Tony was finishing up, Loki leaned over and kissed him on the top of the head. Then he made a face. “Ugh, you do need that bath, don’t you? You smell like last week’s laundry.” When Tony gave him his best wounded, pouty look, he grinned and continued, “Don’t worry, you’re still the sexiest thing I can think of. We just need to get you cleaned up so that I can make you feel all better.”

 _‘All better’_ was accompanied by the most lascivious tone of voice Tony had ever heard, and it sent an involuntary shiver down his spine.

“Not sure I’m up for it yet, Loki.” Tony gave a wistful little sigh at the thought of already not being able to satisfy his teenaged boyfriend.

He was rewarded with another grin, though, and, “Oh, I think I can make sure you’re _up for it_ , Tony. But let’s worry about the bath part first.”

 

*

 

Half an hour later, Tony was wondering why he’d never bathed in someone else’s presence before. Well his nanny as a very young child, sure. But this was a whole different thing.

He was covered in bubbles up to his chin, and Loki’s nimble fingers were lathering shampoo into his hair. The sensation was sublime. He’d never felt so content.

Loki hadn’t even hesitated. He’d rolled his shirtsleeves up over his elbows, helped Tony into the bathtub, and busied himself with first a wet rag covered with Tony’s bodywash, and then the tropical shampoo Tony favored. All the while, he hummed happily to himself, only occasionally pausing to ask if the water needed to be warmer, or telling Tony to move so he had better access to all of his bits. He was being thorough, but not pushing the envelope into the sexual, as Tony had assumed was inevitable.

“Anything else you need?” Loki asked, blowing his hair of his face. It had become disarrayed while he scrubbed, and Tony found the look more than a little distracting. He flicked a little water at Loki, just to be obnoxious and childish, because apparently he couldn’t even pretend to be the adult in the relationship.

Loki just rolled his eyes. He took a double handful of water and poured it over Tony’s hair to start rinsing the shampoo out—

The doorbell rang, loud in the otherwise silent house.

They both froze and shared a look.

Loki recovered first. “Were you expecting someone?”

“Sure, my girlfriend should be here anytime now.” Tony rolled his eyes.

Loki scowled. “Not. Funny.” Then he dumped more water over Tony’s head. “I’ll go see who it is.”

“If it’s the girl scouts, make sure to get me the coconut ones — with the chocolate, you know?” Tony gave him another grin.

“You’re ridiculous.” Standing up and shaking his head, Loki headed for the door.

“Hey I know what this needs, Green Eyes. Where’s my rubber duck?” Tony continued grinning, knowing that it was the kind of attitude that pissed most people off. Was he trying to sabotage his ‘relationship’, or was he just being himself?

Loki, far from being annoyed with his childish mugging, rolled his eyes good naturedly. “Oh, I’ve got a bird for you alright, Tony.” On his way out the door, he flipped Tony off.

Tony almost slipped under the surface of the water, he was laughing so hard.

He amused himself for a while by rinsing the remnants of shampoo from his hair and then moving on to the conditioner. When he’d finished that, though, he decided that even Girl Scout cookies weren’t worth Loki being gone for that long.

“Loooooooooki! Where are you with my rubber duck?” Then, of course, he spent another moment giggling at his own stupid joke. He thought he might be embarrassed about his behavior when he felt more himself, but he wasn’t actually sure. Loki liked silly Tony as much as authoritarian Mr. Stark. Tony liked that. A lot.

Dammit, he wanted his boyfriend back.

So he dragged himself out of the tub, wrapped a towel around his hips, and quickly ran another through his hair to keep it from dripping all over the carpet. He kept a hand on the wall to make sure he didn’t lose his balance, and headed for the stairs, calling, “Hey, Loki? Is everything okay? You’ve been gone a long—”

At the bottom of the stairs, Loki was standing next to a very large, very familiar young man.

Thor.

Fuck. How had Tony not known it would be _that_ Thor? He’d never had the kid in his class, since the captain of the fucking football team was pretty much never physics material, but how many kids named Thor even lived in the whole state of New York?

The kid, who was _definitely_ not a kid anymore, probably had six inches on Tony, as well as a hundred pounds of muscle.

Tony Stark was about to be murdered by his boyfriend’s big brother.

Thor, meanwhile, looked stumped. “Mr. Stark? What… how?” He looked back down at his brother, and repeated himself. “Mr. Stark?”

Tony could almost hear Loki’s irritation when he said, “Thor was just leaving. Nothing to worry about.”

After a moment of looking from Loki to Tony and back again, Thor’s eyes widened in a way Tony might have found comical under other circumstances. “TONY. Mr. Stark is… _Blowjob-Tony_!?”

Loki’s hiss of frustration could be heard from where Tony still stood at the top of the stairs. He stopped trying to block Thor’s path into the house, and slammed the door behind him. “Well I guess now you can’t leave until you understand exactly how this is going to go, Thor.”

The look in Loki’s eyes spelled murder, and Tony wondered if they were going to be burying a big blond body later in the evening. He blotted out the fact that he didn’t wonder whether he’d actually help instead of calling the cops.

When Loki turned to look at Tony, though, his eyes softened. “Will you be okay on your own? I should keep an eye on Thor.”

“Sure. I’ll just… go get some pants on.” Tony turned toward the bedroom. “I’ll be down in a minute, okay?”

“Take all the time you need, Tony. Be careful.” The concern in Loki’s voice carried, and despite the fact that he was probably about to be the victim of or accomplice in a murder, the obvious emotion in Loki’s voice warmed him.

He tried not to rush through dressing, well aware that falling down and breaking a leg was not going to help his situation. Still, he skipped underwear and threw on whatever clothes were at the top of his drawers, just to shave off a little extra time. Gold’s Gym sweatpants and an AC/DC t-shirt. Oh well.

When he arrived back in the kitchen, it was awkward but thankfully murder-free. Thor was eating the leftover tomato soup, and Loki was frowning at him from the opposite chair. When they saw Tony come in, Loki jumped up and tried to help him to a chair.

Frowning a bit, Tony put a hand on Loki’s shoulder and tried to be calm and reassuring when he said, “I’m sick Loki, not eighty, and not an invalid. I can get to a chair myself. Thank you, though.” He was rather proud of his restraint.

Loki hovered anyway. When he got himself into a chair, Tony found Thor looking hard at the two of them.

“So this is awkward,” Thor began, chewing on his lip in an overt display of nerves. “And I don’t want to make this uncomfortable, but are you fucking my baby brother, Mr. Stark?”

Loki let his head fall forward until it hit the table. “Thor!”

“I need to know these things, Loki. It’s my job to protect you.” Thor looked hard at Tony. “Are you changing his grade—”

“Whoa there, cowboy!” Tony threw up his hands as though to ward off Thor’s presumptions. “Loki’s grade is completely earned through classwork and tests, or lack thereof. Sex does not enter into that equation.”

Loki pulled himself up straight and glared at Thor. “And I did tell you what would happen if you started asking questions like that.” The look on his face made Tony exceptionally glad he wasn’t the target of Loki’s anger. “You see, as it turns out, I seem to have a knack for giving blowjobs. First, you have to—”

“That’s enough!” Thor threw his hands over his ears. “I get your point, Loki. It _is_ my job to make sure no one is taking advantage of you, though.”

“No, Thor. It’s my job to make sure no one is taking advantage of me. And you know me. If anyone here is taking advantage, do you really think it’s Tony?” Loki’s voice had cooled a bit, and Tony hoped his anger was following suit.

Thor seemed to mull that over for a while before shaking his head. “No. I suppose not. Father wouldn’t approve, though.”

Loki rolled his eyes, and didn’t even bother opening his mouth to respond.

“And Mother would be disappointed, and worried,” Thor continued, as though Loki hadn’t dismissed their father as irrelevant.

From the way Loki jerked back a little, Tony knew that comment had landed. He frowned. “Okay, that’s enough. If you want to insult me and imply that I can’t hold anyone’s interest unless I control their grade, that’s fine. But there’s no reason to say things like that.”

Thor gave Tony another speculative look. “Walk me to my car, Mr. Stark?”

“Absolutely not,” Loki said definitively. “And if you go home and claim anything untoward, Thor, I will make you regret it.”

Tony smiled and him, and leaned over to kiss him on the temple. “It’s fine, Loki. I don’t think he’s going to kill me in my own driveway.”

Loki looked dubious, but allowed the two of them to leave him in the kitchen.

Tony grabbed his jacket on the way out the door. It was spring, and not too cool, but he wasn’t going to take chances, with what he’d just been through. Further stressing his body was a very bad idea.

The two of them were quiet as they walked out to Thor’s car, an expensive looking Mercedes. Tony wondered if it had actually cost less than Loki’s, but it wasn’t terribly important, he supposed.

Thor unlocked the door, but didn’t open it immediately. “So this is where I think I’m supposed to threaten you, which is weird, since a year ago you were telling me I wasn’t allowed to make out at prom.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Prom was in a hotel ballroom. Why didn’t you get a room like a normal person?”

Thor’s nose curled up in the horrified disgust that only a teenager could have for the idea that people older than him knew what sex was. “Ew. And not the point, Mr. Stark. It’s… hard to think of you with my baby brother.” Thor’s mouth twisted in something that resembled amusement. “I guess this is where I should say that I’ll hurt you if you hurt him.”

Tony nodded gamely, relieved that Thor wasn’t just running home to tell their one-eyed douchebag of a father about the whole thing. “Duly noted. But if you trust me in nothing else, trust me when I say that hurting Loki is not only something I don’t want to do, but something I’ve spent a lot of time worrying about.”

Thor looked oddly conflicted by that, and Tony wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Maybe just as importantly, Mr. Stark, I’m not sure you understand just how much you’ve bitten off, here.”

Oh. All Tony could do with that was smile. “I do know that, Thor. I’m in way over my head. But I’m going to take care of him as well as I can.”

Thor smiled and nodded. “Strange, but I think I believe you. Good luck, and I hope I never have to come out here to beat the hell out of you.”

“Thanks. Me too.”

Tony stood there and watched while Thor drove off into the night, Tony’s life in his hands. In the weeks since the incident — every new thing that happened, every new person who knew — Tony had become more and more worried. He’d become more and more convinced that his whole life was going to come crashing down around his shoulders.

Maybe it was the remnants of the fever talking, but Tony wasn’t really worried anymore.

Maybe the worst would happen. Odin would find out. Hill would find out. Tony would lose his job. Become a registered sex offender. He was pretty sure that when the dust settled, Loki would still be there. So what did any of it matter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, we've been gone forever. Things happened, and we have seriously busy lives outside of fanfiction writing, sadly. 
> 
> Believe me, if I could I'd quit my job and write Sex Ed full time. But I need money. Anyway, the story is still not being abandoned, it just has a frazzled writer who's working and doing college for about 80 hours every week. Back with more soon, I hope!


	18. this house has you

Loki was still sitting at the table when Tony came back inside. He took off his jacket and draped it over a kitchen chair, smiling at Loki in a way that probably looked high or dazed. He felt a little like he was both.

Ceasing his fidgeting, Loki hopped up from the table and came to put a hand under Tony's arm.

"He didn't threaten you, did he?" He was definitely ready to rush after his brother to commit grievous bodily injury.

Taking advantage of his pathetic state to keep Loki in place, Tony leaned on him. "Only as much as the situation required. Mostly, he seemed worried that I couldn't handle you."

When Loki's smile turned lascivious. "Oh, you can handle me, Tony. In fact, I've quite missed you handling me for the last few days."

While Tony hadn't missed it in the first few days, what with being too distracted by throwing up, he was definitely beginning to feel a distinct lack of sex. Oddly, he didn't feel bereft about it. He loved when Loki showed up just to cuddle or feed him soup. He was just beginning to want the sex part again.

"You want to be handled, Green Eyes?" he chided. "I think that could be arranged, provided you're not against a little hard work."

The way Loki's eyes lit up told Tony everything he needed to know.

"I thought I'd be lucky to get you to take a little blowjob practice." Loki paused, looking a little disturbed by his own words. "What I mean to say is-"

"You think I'm slowing down in my old age?" At twenty eight, Tony didn't usually feel old enough to need to defend his geriatric state. Since he was almost certain that Loki was joking, he wasn't too worried. He wasn't the one who had been overwhelmed by the half dozen condoms, after all.

Loki, on the other hand, apparently decided to appeal to Tony's vanity. "I can't say you've shown signs before now, but I thought it might be a good idea to ease you back into things before the situation becomes too dire..."

Grinning in response, Tony pushed his sturdy wooden chair back from the table and motioned to his lap. "Well then, why don't we try getting back in the saddle right now?"

"The saddle?" Loki smirked, coming to stand in front of Tony's chair. "I was never one of those kids who wanted to be a cowboy, but I think I could learn to love riding."

"Good to hear," Tony joked, "since your ancient boyfriend isn't going to be able to hold himself upright for too many more years."

Loki just snorted at him and reached for the drawstring on his sweats.

Tony knew he was missing something of importance, but given the combination of his continuing mental haze and the fact that Loki was palming his cock, he decided not to dwell on it.

 

*

 

To Loki’s annoyance, Tony decided that he had to get back to work on Friday.

Really, though, if he was well enough to have sex, he was well enough to sit behind a desk and tell kids to get the hell back to work. He didn’t really teach that way, but he figured they would live for one day without his having to write everything down for them.

Tony was always overestimating people.

They did seem happy to have him back, though, which was something of a surprise. One kid even brought him an apple, like they were living in some kind of fifties cliché.

By the time two o’clock crept up, Tony was beat. He had been ready to go home to bed at eleven. At two, he was slumped over his classroom desk, trying not to think about how pitiful he must look.

Loki dragged Fandral in just as the bell was ringing, and Tony couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“I see my two favorite troublemakers got used to doing whatever they wanted in my absence,” he sighed, his voice sounding even more put-upon than he had intended.

Fandral looked up at Tony and immediately flinched back. Poor pretty Fandral was probably naturally repelled by ugliness, and Tony was a hot mess.

“You look terrible, Mr. Stark!” Fandral announced aloud. He immediately cringed again, probably realizing how tactless the words had been.

Loki elbowed him in the ribs and muttered, “Way to bring attention to us being late, Blondie.”

Fandral cocked his head at the nickname, one Tony was all too sure Loki had acquired from him, but he didn’t say anything.

Clearing his throat, Tony decided it was time to do his job, whether he wanted to crawl under his desk and cry or not. “Okay, kiddos, time to do some science. You all ready for your test?”

They all stared at him in horror.

“What? I told the sub to warn you that I wasn’t putting it off.” He did his best to put on a serious face.

One kid, a straight A student who sat in the front, raised his hand. “Mr. Stark, your substitute told me he couldn’t help me with the homework, because,” the kid actually raised finger quotes then, “ _this stuff isn’t science, it’s like thermo-nuke-you-ler astrophysics or something_.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Did he actually pronounce thermonuclear astrophysics like that?”

As a single unit, the class nodded their heads.

“Oooookay. So test next Wednesday, after I remind you all how to science. Or at least how to say nuclear.” Tony shook his head. That was why he didn’t get sick. It messed everything up.

By the time the final bell rang, it was a struggle just to keep upright in his seat and keep his eyes open. At least once, he considered resorting to scotch tape to make sure they wouldn’t slip closed without him realizing it. That would be hell on his eyelashes, though.

He had considered getting a caffeinated soda at lunch time, but thought better of it when his stomach threatened to rebel. Instead, he’d stuck with his crackers and bottled water. He missed the tea and homemade tomato soup Loki had spoiled him with.

Thor had eaten his soup. Tony was unaccountably irritated with the boy.

Fandral stayed after the bell rang, to give Tony a new packet of make-up homework. He looked a little ashamed. “I’m not sure I did so well this time, Mr. Stark. Loki’s been trying to help me at lunch, but it’s kind of hard for him.”

Tony shrugged. “Truthfully, Fandral, homework isn’t so much about right and wrong. It’s about practice and effort. You did both, you get credit. The tests are where you better hope you know what you’re doing.”

The kid looked overwhelmed, and leaned against Tony’s desk. At the startled look that got him, he gave a little smile. “I really might pass, huh? I mean _really_.”

At that, Tony couldn’t mask a grin. “You keep going like this, you might even manage a C.”

“I told you that,” Loki butted in. Then he turned to give Tony a glare. “You, on the other hand, shouldn’t even be here. You’re miserable.”

“Sure, but that just means it’s a workday, right?” Tony shot back. Was some tiny amount of his wit returning, or was that just wishful thinking?

Loki snorted. “Right. Because you don’t love this horrible job.”

“Everyone has to have a job, Loki, whether they like it or not.” Fandral looked concerned with Loki’s mocking response.

He was probably wondered if there was trouble in paradise. Tony wondered if he was right. Loki knew the truth about Tony’s career options. How long before Loki told him to grow up and go get a real job?

A real job making real weapons for the US military. A job that would pay Tony millions—really, billions—of dollars to kill people.

If it was going to happen, he supposed there wasn’t much he could do about it. He wondered if Loki threatening to leave him would be the final straw that made him give up and give in. Would he really sell his soul to keep Loki?

“No,” Tony shook his head as much as he could without making himself queasy. “Loki’s right. I’m an idiot, and I like my job.”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I’d say idiot. Crazy, maybe. Never idiot.”

“What else should I be doing, if not teaching high school physics?” Tony looked Loki square in the eye when he asked the billion dollar question. Was he actively trying to piss Loki off? Did he want to ruin the best thing happening in his life, and be alone again?

Pausing for a long moment, Loki looked hard at Tony. His poker face was in full effect, so Tony couldn’t tell what was going on behind those emerald eyes.

“You could be teaching college physics.” He concluded after a tense moment. “Maybe in a few years, when you get sick of kids.”

It took all of Tony’s miniscule willpower not to grab Loki and kiss him breathless.

Instead, he demanded, “College physics, huh? Want me to go along to college with you and hold your hand?”

Loki grinned at him. “I wouldn’t be opposed to the easy A, but I don’t think I’ll be taking a lot of science in college.”

“You’re not still planning on going to the Pratt Institute? Just to piss Odin off?” Fandral rolled his eyes. “Doing _what you want_ is all well and good, Loki, but don’t tell me you’re actually going to do the whole starving artist thing.”

The way the boy stressed ‘what you want’ made Tony think a specific argument was being quoted.

The look on Loki’s face told Tony _watch this_ , and he turned to face his friend. “Why not? Majoring in art is what I want. Why shouldn’t I?”

Fandral looked genuinely confused. “Because… I don’t want to sound like Odin, but he will kick you out. You’ll starve on the street or become like those freezing people in Rent or something. Don’t become an HIV positive exotic dancer, Loki. Please?”

Loki rolled his eyes and shot Tony a look of pure frustration.

“Pratt Institute? Starving artist? Exotic dancing?” It was too much for Tony to bear. He had to know. He realized that Loki was trying to send him a message about his own choices, but this was too interesting to let go.

“Pratt is an art school in Brooklyn, Odin doesn’t approve of career choices that don’t have automatic paychecks attached, and I don’t plan to become an exotic dancer… but I could be convinced.” Loki ticked off his fingers as he answered the queries, then looked back up at Tony. “Any other questions?”

The room was quiet for a moment, filled with a strange tension that Tony almost didn’t want to break.

“Shouldn’t you get the best job you can? Make as much money as possible?” Tony’s voice was softer than the questions implied, obviously asking an entirely different question than the words posed.

“I should get whatever job makes me happy, and make however much money I make.” He leaned all the way across the desk, nearly able to press their lips together. “Fuck everything else, Tony.”

“Um.” Fandral’s confusion didn’t even register in Tony’s mind.

Loki knew the truth, and Loki didn’t give a damn.

And Loki wanted to be an artist? Tony was inexplicably disappointed at the loss of his theoretical future househusband. What the hell?

 

*

 

About ten o’clock that night, Tony’s phone buzzed with a text message.

_Can I come over? Done helping Fandral with his homework._

Before he even gave them permission, his fingers had tapped out _Sure_ , and hit the send button.

Loki’s parents doubtless thought he was staying at Fandral’s place; Tony wondered if they were starting to think the two of them were a couple.

Tony wandered into the kitchen and looked blankly into the fridge for a long moment, feeling like he should have something to eat or drink available if he was going to play host.

That was when it hit him that Loki intended to stay the night.

Was he okay with that?

His cock leapt to attention with a resounding yes, but his brain stuck for a moment. That was also when his annoyingly selective brain decided to remember that he’d called Loki his boyfriend the night before. Or rather, he’d called himself Loki’s boyfriend.

He was back in complete control of his faculties, though, and somehow it didn’t bother him. In eight months, Loki would no longer be in high school. Dating a college student was a little risqué at his age, but it wasn’t illegal, and it wasn’t going to lose him his job.

Loki had basically told him that whatever he chose to do with his life was fine.

 _Whatever job makes me happy,_ he’d said, in that pointed way that meant he wasn’t talking about himself.

Teaching obnoxious high school students really did make Tony happy most of the time. He was occasionally frustrated with it, and certainly didn’t have as much passion for it as Bruce, but then students like Fandral came along and he was reminded of why he had started teaching. Helping people during one of the hardest times in their life, when their friends were idiots and their parents didn’t understand what they were going through; it was important to him.

Maybe Loki was right, and at some point he’d get tired of it, want to work with college students or something like that. But in his foreseeable future, Tony was happy with his life.

Tony had a good job, a great house (albeit one in need of a new oven), and… a boyfriend.

The knock at the door drew him out of his circular thoughts, and he went to answer it without thinking about what he was going to say. It was something of a surprise to both he and Loki when he opened the door and immediately asked, “You like my house, right?”

Loki cocked his head confusedly, but apparently decided to humor Tony. “I love your house. It’s big, remote, and has a huge kitchen and a whirlpool tub. What else could I want in a house?”

Tony took a deep breath. Loki already knew the score. He could say it without fear that Loki was going to get angry and walk away, right?

“My family mansion has forty five rooms, a garage the size of this house, and an Olympic sized swimming pool.” He got the whole sentence out with the same breath, and then immediately sucked in another, not sure whether he intended to wait for a reaction or go on.

Loki put a finger to his lips. “So what? My family home has an asshole who judges everything I do and finds it wanting. Yours has a father who let his business partner take advantage of you. Why would I want to live in either of those places?”

“A Scrooge McDuck-esque vault full of money?” Tony asked, only partially joking.

“First of all, gross. Secondly, I think I’ve been clear about my plans to be a starving artist.” Putting a little pressure on the finger he still had to Tony’s lips, he pushed them both into the house and closed the door behind them. “I’m willing to make the concession of having a home in the suburbs instead of a cardboard box in an alley. Are you going to demand that I change my plans any further?”

How had Loki become the adult in their relationship? Or had that just always been true?

Tony grabbed him around the waist with both hands and pushed him back into the closed door. “I’m serious about this, Loki. It’s insane and stupid and we’ve been doing this for less than a month, but I’m serious. If you have any expectation of me leaving teaching to go to New York and become my father’s lackey, I need you to tell me now.”

The worst part about asking for that information was that he knew the demand wouldn’t change his decision. He was good at perpetual denial, but he was also tired of throwing away things he cared about because of his own stubbornness. In that moment, he was sure he would do what it took to make Loki stay.

“Tony,” Loki breathed his name. He looked ecstatic for a second before his face went serious. “My expectations of you are that you refuse to become anyone’s lackey. And _I’m_ serious, too. I hope you know that.”

“I do,” Tony agreed. “Now get the hell to my bedroom. It’s been too long since I screwed my boyfriend.”

Tony doubted Loki could have moved faster if he’d been a professional runner. By the time Tony made it up the stairs after him, Loki’s shirt was on the floor, and he was sitting on the edge of the bed trying to yank his jeans off without bothering to take his shoes off first.

Tony knelt in front of him, grinning. “I take it that’s a yes to the screwing?”

Loki made an annoyed whimper in his throat as he tried to stretch around Tony to get his shoes off. Reaching up to cup Loki’s face, Tony leaned in for a soft kiss. “It’s okay, babe. I’ve got you.”

He leaned back and slowly started to peel Loki out of every piece of clothing just as slowly as he wanted to.

“We’ve got all night,” he said, looking up for a response, “Right?”

Loki just nodded, already out of breath.

“Then I’ve got time to do whatever I want, don’t I?” He smiled wickedly, leaning forward to kiss Loki’s heaving chest. “Calm down. Catch your breath and let me take care of you.”

After taking off the shoes, socks, and finally jeans, Tony took a moment to just appreciate the view. He had the prettiest damn boyfriend ever. There were miles of creamy skin laid out before him, smooth and trembling with impatient energy. So he kissed his way up one calf and then the other, slowly leading up toward the apex of Loki’s thighs. Halfway there, their eyes met, and the challenge in Loki’s gaze wouldn’t let him go.

When Loki made another impatient whimper, Tony finally leaned in and gave him what he wanted. He tongued the base of Loki’s cock, licking his way up to the tip and then swallowing the whole thing down. The strangled noise of pleasure from above was more than worth the effort.

He ran his hands up Loki’s naked torso, fingers skidding on the sweat-slicked skin. He could almost swear he felt the heartbeat beneath.

“Tony! Oh my god, Tony. Don’t stop, please.” Loki was coherent enough to get the words out, but only just. Tony slid his index finger into his mouth beside Loki’s cock to wet it. Before he had a chance to draw it out and use it, Loki’s voice came again, cracked almost beyond recognition. “Tony! Go-going to c-co-oh!”

As Loki’s voice broke off altogether, Tony’s mouth filled with the salty-bitter taste of Loki.

Shit. No condom. Oops.

Oh well, little late to worry about after the fact.

Of course, if things were what Tony believed they were, maybe they wouldn’t have to worry about the whole condom thing too much in the future. The distant future, though. For now, he needed to remember.

Loki, oblivious to Tony’s thoughts, lay panting on the bed, still too blissed out in his post-orgasmic haze to worry about condoms or STIs. His chest and cheeks were flushed, and his perfect green eyes were staring, unfocused, in the direction of the ceiling. Maybe just once, Tony would let it pass unnoticed.

“So, you’re staying for sleep, right?” he asked as casually as he could. He was actually holding his breath for the answer, his heart stuttering with every beat.

Loki’s head popped up, one fine dark eyebrow raised at a sharp angle. “Sleep? What about screwing? You too tired to fuck me, Old Man?”

“Hey, who just got off in under five minutes?” Tony protested, a whiny note creeping into his voice. He actually had been planning on curling up next to Loki and going to sleep, but after that comment, it was no longer an option.

Loki sighed in a mock put-upon way. “I suppose if you can’t… I have heard that one in five men—”

Tony shut him up with a tongue down his throat. Statistics about one in five men were something he suspected he never ever wanted to hear about. “Okay, my insatiable little brat, how do you want it?”

Loki’s lips widened in a wicked grin as he slid his way up to the middle of the bed and rolled over onto his hands and knees. “How about the old fashioned way?”

Just the view of that perfect pale ass wiggling in front of him was enough to shred any restraint Tony might have had remaining. He made a beeline for the nightstand to retrieve lube and condoms, tossing both on the bed before starting to strip himself.

“Tony…” Loki’s voice broke his concentration on stripping, and he looked up to see Loki eyeing the condoms. “Before, when you—”

“I know. Forgot. Don’t worry. My problem. Trust you.” There was hardly a full sentence in the mess of words, but Tony trusted Loki to understand what he meant.

Loki was quiet for a moment, watching Tony strip with a thoughtful look in his eyes that wasn’t quite masked by the lascivious glint. As Tony started to pull himself up onto the bed, he spoke. “I trust you too, you know.”

It was a good thing that Tony was immune to heart melting moments. “I know.”

“So—” Loki arched his back into an enticing curve, as though the movement somehow asked a question he didn’t want to put voice to.

“Not yet,” Tony implored quietly, lying down on the bed and pressing one of his burning cheeks into Loki’s sweat-cooled shoulder.

He wasn’t sure why it was so important that he protect Loki from what he knew was nothing at all. He’d been tested repeatedly after Chrissie. After that, his sex life had mostly been a big fat zero. He was pretty sure you couldn’t catch anything from your own damned hand.

Loki seemed to understand, though. He leaned back and swiped his own smooth cheek against Tony’s stubbled one. “Okay. This time. You need to get over this, though. It’s only going to be you, and it damned well better only be me.”

Tony sat up and pulled himself onto his knees behind Loki. Leaning forward to press his teeth lightly into one perfect cheek of Loki’s ass, he grinned. “Only you. No reason to need anything else, what with you always wanting.”

Slicking his fingers liberally, he slowly started working one after another into Loki. He leaned all the way up to nibble one soft earlobe and then whispered filthily, “You know one of these days I’m not gonna need to lube you up at all. I’m just gonna lick you open and fuck you bare.”

He always talked in bed. He’d had bedmates who didn’t like how dirty it got, and bedmates who couldn’t seem to get enough of it. There was just no way to know until you went there.

It was immediately apparent which category Loki fell into, when he tried to speak and only managed a groan. He bucked his hips back into Tony’s hand, turning to look over his shoulder. The green was completely gone from his eyes, his wet lips were parted. He looked like the centerfold from a dirty magazine.

“You like that? Want me to—”

“Stop!” Loki demanded in a guttural growl. “Unless you’re going to do it now, stop torturing me with ‘going to’ and _fuck me now_!”

So Tony followed his orders. He pulled his fingers away from Loki’s ass, slipped on a condom as fast as he could, and pushed his way back in. He was rewarded with another groan, and Loki immediately began to move back against him, trying to press their bodies closer together.

Tony had thought Loki’s innocent desire to learn had been sexy, but he had completely forgotten what it was like to have an eager partner with some experience. Loki’s was admittedly still limited, but it had reached a point where he knew what he wanted: he wanted more, and faster, and now, now, now.

Loki leaned forward a bit, grabbed the dark wooden slats of the headboard, and started forcing himself back onto Tony’s cock, harder and harder, setting a punishing pace that was about to make Tony blow.

“Loki… gonna lose it if you don’t slow down,” he panted out, trying to stave off his own release just a little longer.

If anything, that seemed to make Loki push harder, his muscles rippling mesmerizingly under the flushed skin of his back. “Do it. Give it to me. Fuck, Tony, _come_!”

Like some sort of bizarre permission, the moment Loki said the word, Tony’s brain blacked out. He didn’t lose consciousness or some nonsense that only happens in fiction, but he couldn’t form a single coherent thought as he came. The only thing in his head was Loki. Loki in front of him, tight, and hot, and beautiful, demanding to be filled with everything Tony was willing to give him.

Loki, demanding all of Tony.

He threw his arms around Loki’s sweaty torso and continued pumping into him until it became physically uncomfortable. Then he tugged Loki onto his side so that they were still pressed together, and pulled him in as tight as he could. He laid his forehead against Loki’s sweat-slicked shoulder and slowly caught his breath.

Loki himself collapsed against the pillow and gave a deep sigh. It brought Tony’s attention to the possibility that he had once again ignored his partner’s pleasure, and he instantly reached down to find Loki’s cock… already spent. He got Loki off. Again. Heh.

Loki gave him a half-hearted elbow to the midsection and snarked, “Don’t gloat. I’d say it makes you less attractive, but I’m beginning to think nothing can do that.”

“Not even living in a house and not a box?” Tony wondered if that had actually been Loki’s intention. That seemed very un-Loki-like, so he assumed there were other plans in place.

“Hey Loki?” he asked before Loki had even answered his first query, “You’re gonna go to art school in New York?”

There was a pregnant pause, and it filled Tony with foreboding that didn’t seem to make sense in light of the evening’s events.

“That’s always been the plan. I—I’m pretty decent at it.”

“And here I thought you were gonna get married and settle down,” Tony joked, wondering if any part of him was stupid enough to believe he was joking at all.

“That’s kind of the plan, too,” Loki said quietly. “Can’t I do both?”

Before he could stop them, words both true and dangerous started sliding off his tongue. “I’m not sure I could move to New York that fast, and finding a teaching job can take time—”

Loki spun around in front of him, staring with a stunned expression. “No!”

Tony froze. Had he misunderstood?

“I’ll drive back on the weekends,” Loki’s tone was soothing, as though Tony was a wild animal threatening attack. “I can get a dorm for the weekdays. It won’t be great, but it won’t be forever.”

Feeling a bit mollified Tony nodded. “Plus you like my house.”

“Plus I like your house.” Loki agreed with a yawn, pushing Tony onto his back and resting against his pectoral muscle.

Within a few moments, he was snoring softly into the crook of Tony’s neck.

It was only then that Tony’s mind connected the dots.

 _Wait_ , he thought, _did I just propose to a sixteen year old?_


	19. another year older

Never a big fan of the month of May, Tony just treated it with the same trepidation he always had.

May was when school ended. It was when he had to go home from school and deal with his father. The summer had never been kind to Tony.

Also, the end of May was his birthday. He was going to be twenty nine. When he was thirty, Loki would still be a teenager. Even ignoring that little bit of horror, Tony’s birthday never brought anything good. There were the quiet birthdays of his childhood, when Howard and sometimes even Maria forgot it was his birthday. There were the drunken parties of his teen years, when he’d done horrifically stupid things. And finally, there were the lonely birthdays of his twenties, when he had no one to celebrate with, and no real reason to celebrate getting another year closer to the end.

Tony’s birthdays always made him a little less than perky.

On the other hand, this year, Tony was kind of looking forward to the end of the school year. Loki would only have four months of high school left in the fall. They would be able to spend all summer going at it like bunnies.

And Fandral was graduating.

He had given both Tony and Bruce personal invitations to the ceremony, and Tony was sure there’d been tears in his eyes when he’d come to tell them the good news. The kid’s mother had sent Tony a personal ‘thank you’ letter for what he’d done to help her son.

Things like that didn’t happen all the time, of course, but it happened often enough that it renewed Tony’s faith in his choice of profession.

Sure, Fandral wasn’t going to be a physicist. That wasn’t the point. If Tony had wanted to teach the future physicists of the world, he’d have chosen to teach at MIT or Harvard. Science was secondary to what he wanted. Tony wanted to make people’s lives better.

Gods, he was a sap.

So it turned out that on the night before his birthday, Tony was scheduled to go to the graduation ceremony. He had agreed to make a night of it with Bruce. That was to say that Bruce had suggested it, and Tony couldn’t exactly tell him about his secret teenage boyfriend, so he’d agreed.

Loki had not been thrilled with the situation, to say the least. There had been a slight argument about it the Saturday after Bruce had asked.

“You’re doing what? But it’s the night before your birthday!”

Tony was reminded of that old saying about being killed with a look, and was happy it was untrue. He tried to put a comforting arm on Loki’s shoulder, but was brushed off. “Come on, Green Eyes, it’s no big deal. I couldn’t tell Fandral—”

“It’s not about Fandral and you know it! You’re going on a date with Dr. Banner.” Loki pouted so prettily that Tony was almost distracted from the actual words that came from his mouth.

“A date with Bruce? Are you crazy?” Tony was genuinely taken aback by the suggestion. “I’d drive Bruce crazy in like a millisecond. We’re just friends, babe.”

That didn’t seem to do the trick. “But you’re taking him out to dinner. You can’t take me to dinner.”

Tony had to do something. The conversation was turning into a train wreck. “I’m only paying because it’s my turn—”

“So you do this all the time? Is that why you know it’s not a date, because you tried it before? Have you slep—”

“Stop.” It wasn’t often in their relationship that Tony used ‘teacher voice’ when they were alone. He was not going to have Loki thinking things like that, though. “No. I have not ever slept with, or even dated, Bruce Banner. We are friends. He’s lonely, and he thinks I’m lonely too.”

Loki’s anger went out like a snuffed candle. “Oh.”

“I was, you know,” Tony went on, wanting to make sure the point was driven all the way home. “Before you, having dinner with Bruce was the highlight of my week. We talked about science, and our students, and it was the most fun I had.”

In fact, Tony had been ignoring Bruce too often since Loki had come into his life. Bruce had to have some idea that Tony had someone, but he hadn’t so much as asked. He was waiting for Tony to talk to him. He really was the best friend Tony could have asked for.

Sighing heavily, Loki nodded. “It’s just hard. I don’t want to be some hysterical girlfriend, but it bothers me that we can’t go anywhere together. That all I have of you is Saturday afternoon.”

He was right, and Tony couldn’t deny it. Superficially, Loki was still like an accessory in Tony’s life. He could disappear and not leave so much as a trace. Tony’s psyche was another matter entirely, but that wasn’t the tangible proof Loki wanted. No, strike that, Loki needed it. Had a right to it, even.

“What if it’s not Saturday afternoon?” Tony asked, as casually as he could. “What if it’s whenever you can come over?”

That earned him an elegantly arched black eyebrow, a gesture he loved more every day.

“What if you had a key to the house? A… a drawer you could put some clothes in?” he was out of breath by the end, but not because of the volume of words. It was terror, pure and simple.

Loki looked at him for a long time, and he felt his heart rate ratcheting up with every passing second. “I don’t do drawers,” Loki finally responded. “You’ll have to clear a section of the closet.”

“Done.”

No more was said about Tony’s birthday or the ridiculous notion of Tony dating Bruce Banner.

 

*

 

He saw Loki from afar at the graduation ceremony, but as much as they were a committed couple at home, they couldn’t so much as acknowledge each other’s presence in public. Tony wondered if Loki felt it as keenly as he did.

At dinner, Bruce was his usual inimitable self. He talked about how happy he was for Fandral, and how the situation had given him a new viewpoint about students who looked hopeless, and Tony didn’t process even half of it.

He was still picturing Loki at the graduation. He’d been wearing a tight maroon t-shirt. He knew red was Tony’s favorite color. Little bastard had been trying to distract him for his dinner with… well fuck. It was working.

Thankfully, Bruce was the kind of friend who didn’t complain if you were distracted.

“Is everything alright with you, Tony?” Bruce decided to prove Tony wrong. “You’ve been off tonight. To tell the truth, you’ve been off for a while, but I just figured you’d found a girlfriend, since we haven’t had dinner in a while.”

“I-um, well—” How the hell did he answer that? “I kind of have a boyfriend, and can’t talk about it?”

“Kind of?” Bruce was obviously confused, but didn’t flinch at the word boyfriend.

Tony sighed. “Let’s just say that he can’t have a boyfriend, so we can’t do this thing openly.”

“That doesn’t sound like a long term thing,” Bruce said disappointedly. “I know that isn’t the kind of relationship you want.”

“It isn’t always gonna be like that,” Tony hedged. “He wants to be in the open. And I… I’m going crazy, Bruce.”

It felt so good to tell someone. A knot in his back loosened, and his head slumped forward.

“Tell me about it,” Bruce said, always game to help a friend.

“You know my track record with relationships, Bruce. I have this—”

Bruce put up a hand. “That doesn’t count. She was only interested in the Stark family fortune and you know it. She wasn’t worth the pain you went through. Tell me he’s not another gold digger, Tony.”

“No! He didn’t even know about that when we started seeing each other.” Tony shook his head vehemently, as though that would better prove that he was right about it. “And when he found out, he told me I should do what I want for a living.”

“Like he had a right to make that decision?” Bruce mused.

“Like… maybe I might have implied that I’d change if he asked me to,” Tony told him, words speeding up as he went. He had underestimated Loki, and he still felt stupid for it.

Bruce’s eyes went round at that. “You offered to go back to your father for him?”

Tony stared at his half full plate of chicken alfredo, feeling more shame than he had when it had happened. “Yeah. I, um… I-I think I may be in it this time, B. I think maybe he’s it.”

“It like… _marriage_ it?” Bruce asked, and almost choked on his water when Tony nodded. “Wow. Well then assuming that he follows through and you two can go public soon, congratulations, Tony.”

Graduation had happened on a Friday night, but Tony and Bruce decided to make an early night of it anyway. It made Tony feel old, but he didn’t really want to go to a club or a bar; drinking and getting laid weren’t things he was interested in. He was pretty sure they had never been things Bruce was interested in.

So he headed home at eleven, happy to have had someone to talk to about his relationship with Loki, even if he had to obfuscate a bit. He hoped Bruce didn’t hate him in a year when he figured out who they had been talking about.

He arrived home at 11:30 and there was an oh-so-familiar green car in his driveway. He wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

When he walked in the door and smelled chocolate, he decided it was a good thing.

All the lights in the kitchen were on, and Loki was sitting at the table looking expectantly at the door.

“I thought I heard you come in,” he purred.

Tony could only muster the lame response, “I guess you did.”

Loki laughed at that, and pushed something forward on the table. A chocolate frosted cake. The words “Happy Birthday, Tony” were written in an even darker chocolate across the top, and what looked suspiciously like a dick was artfully swirled on beneath the words.

“Chocolate?” he asked, knowing it was a ridiculous question, but not knowing what else to say.

Loki snorted, but gave him a nod.

Tony cocked his head to one side, and then the other. “And the dick?”

“Just for you.”

It was Tony’s turn to snort. “So what you’re saying is that you want me to eat dick?”

“I certainly wouldn’t complain about you eating a dick, but tonight the only dick you’ll be eating is this one.” He grabbed the knife that Tony hadn’t even seen sitting next to the cake and sliced off a giant piece with a recognizable picture of dick on it. Putting it gingerly onto the plate, he pushed it in Tony’s direction. “You want some? Because if so, we should feed you before I drag you upstairs to give you your gift.”

Tony lifted his own eyebrow. “What, that? I could have that any day.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t watch it, Mister, you’ll be getting a birthday spanking instead of a birthday gift.”

“Oooooooh, promise?” Tony chuckled before gathering a giant hunk of cake onto a fork and stuffing it in his mouth. The chuckle turned into a moan as he chewed. Loki had not been kidding about being good at cooking anything. It was incredible.

It occurred to Tony that he hadn’t had a birthday cake since Jarvis died, and the fork clattered to the plate, fallen from suddenly boneless fingers.

“Tony? Is it bad? Did I do something wrong?”

Tony shook his head vehemently before swallowing the cake. “No, babe. It’s perfect. It’s just… been a while.”

Loki opened his mouth as though to ask a question, but obviously thought better of it and shut up.

“So birthday present, huh?”

Another birthday rolled through his mind. An ancient shaving kit with the initials EJ stamped into the leather case, the dearest thing he’d ever been given. He still owned it, still used it. It wasn’t Loki’s fault that no gift could possibly be the same. No one had ever loved him as much as Jarvis. He doubted it was possible.

Besides, the cake was more than enough. Every bite more moist and decadent and chocolatey than the one before. Certainly no one had ever given Tony anything like that before.

After a while, Loki grinned mischievously. “Done with your dick?”

“Mine, sure. How about yours now?” Tony waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Rolling his eyes and grabbing the empty plate, Loki went to the task of cleaning up. He was done in under two minutes, including putting the cake away. Tony was going to be eating chocolate cake all weekend.

“Okay. Time for your present. You’d better like it.” Loki turned without looking at Tony, and headed up the stairs.

That was odd. If Tony thought Loki capable of such a thing, he’d say his boyfriend was… nervous? He’d been seeing him naked in dozens of positions for more than two months. What could make him nervous?

He followed Loki up the stairs and into the master bedroom, where he turned around and sat on the bed next to…

Tony’s brain froze for a moment.

It was the notebook. That damned notebook that Loki had been ignoring physics for all year. The notebook that no one ever seemed to get a peek at.

The notebook was his birthday present?  He so wanted it to be. Satisfying his curiosity was an excellent birthday present.

The trepidation on Loki’s face was enough to give him pause, though.

“Loki? Is that—Are you sure?”

Loki gave him that secret little sphinx smile then, and passed him the notebook. He held it for a moment, aware of a certain gravitas in the air, and then pulled the cover back with a flourish.

He shouldn’t have been at all surprised to find a drawing of himself. He was in the jeans, button down and tie combination he’d worn the first day of school. He remembered that because the art teacher, some squirrely woman whose name he still didn’t know, had spilled coffee on it at lunch. He’d had to throw the tie away. He was leaning backward against his desk, looking smug and obnoxious as he usually did.

Tony didn’t know about how _he_ looked, but the drawing was beautiful.

Loki had been understating it when he’d said he was pretty good. He was amazing. The anatomy, the shading, the… Tony didn’t know a damned thing about art, but he knew it looked like him at his most _Tony_. He looked like he’d just said something obnoxious, and was waiting for the students to see its brilliance and laugh with him.

“I had a crush on you before, you know,” Loki admits, embarrassed. “Thor’s friend Hogun had your class last year, so I saw you sometimes when Thor came to pick him up.”

“Hogun…” Tony mused. “You mean the creepy quiet kid?”

“That’s the one,” Loki agreed. “So I decided to take your class. Fandral ending up in it too was just convenient, or so I thought until he wouldn’t let me help him.”

“He did let you help him. You mean he didn’t let you cheat for him.”

Loki shrugged. “Same thing.”

“So you decided to take my class because you… erm—” somehow, everything Tony could fit on the end of that sentence sounded smug, and not in his usual charming way.

Loki nodded. “It’s not just one, you know.” He made a cycling motion to Tony, looking pointedly at the notebook.

And it wasn’t just one. It was a whole notebook. Tony teaching, Tony slumped at his desk at the end of a long day, Tony’s face in silhouette, Tony’s eyelashes splayed across his cheeks as if in sleep. Page after page of drawings of Tony.

When he finally looked back up at Loki, words failed him. They had never done that before.

Loki looked terrified, though, so he had to say something.

“I’m not a stalke—”

“This is incredible, Lo—”

Tony smiled at him, and nodded. “Considering every single one of these is from class until,” Tony cleared his throat nervously, “they start to feature a little _more_ of me, which I assume started in March, I didn’t think you were.”

“Well I didn’t have a great real life reference for the male form before.” Loki blushed a bit, looking hopeful. “Pictures on the internet are great, but they don’t give the sense of depth you can only get looking at the real thing.”

“So that’s why there are a dozen pictures of my cock?” Tony joked.

Loki looked scandalized. “Only a dozen? Someone must have stolen some pages.”

Tony sat down on the end of the bed next to Loki. “So is the present finally seeing what you’ve been doing in my class, or…” he waved the notebook.

“It’s for you. If—if you want.” The pink flush crept across his high cheekbones like the shading across his artwork. “I did it when I was imagining having you, and now I have you, so I guess I don’t need it as much.”

“You do, you know.” They had said similar things so often over the months they’d been together, hinting and implying, but never stating outright. It made Tony more and less worried at the same time.

“I do?”

“Have me,” he elaborated. “Dinner with Bruce is fine and all, but I spent half of it thinking that you’d have been unimpressed with their alfredo. It was pretty bland.”

“You spent dinner with your best friend thinking about me?” Loki smiled his wicked little smile, starting to lean toward Tony.

“I spend a lot of my time thinking about you, Green Eyes,” Tony confirmed. “When I wake up alone and wish you were there. When I jack off in the shower and wish you were there. When I sit on the couch making lesson plans and… I wish you were there.”

“I love you too, Tony.”


	20. grand central station

The last day of school came and went, not with any kind of fanfare, but with a sort of tired acknowledgement that they were going to be back the next year. It was just another Tuesday along the purgatorial path of high school. The seniors left after graduation, after all, so their good cheer was gone for the last few days.

Tony’s classes, of course, were populated by Juniors and Seniors. That meant that by the last day of school, his room was a ghost town. He pulled up his Netflix account and let the people who showed up watch A Beautiful Mind. It was about academics or something. Not that Tony was paying attention, but he heard once that it was about academics. It was that or Stand and Deliver, but the math teachers had gotten pissed at him last time he’d shown that. Apparently it was the only movie about math, ever, and they liked to show it.

Of course, who made movies about math?

So instead of doing anything of value, he spent the hour texting with Loki. It wasn’t even sexting, which was probably weird.

If you had a twink boyfriend, weren’t you supposed to be in it just for the sex?

Instead, they were talking about summer plans. Loki had forced his mother to promise no more Disney-like surprises, and she had sworn that the plan was to stay home for the summer. Thor was home from college for the summer, after all, and he had missed them all terribly.

Speaking to Tony, Loki pointed out that ‘the idiot’ had been going to college less than twenty miles from the house, and while he technically lived in a dorm, he had been home for dinner more often than not, as well as every holiday and weekend.

Tony kind of agreed, but he’d always treasured his time away from home as a new college student. He suspected Loki would be more like that, but that reminded him of the unsettling fact that Loki was going to leave him for college. It was supposedly only temporary, but stories about one member of a relationship going off to college never had a happy ending.

Loki had miserably informed Tony that he was to be trapped at home for a few weeks after school let out while his mother tried to enforce family time. As with Disneyland, he was so miserable about it that Tony had a hard time holding it against him.

Besides, starting that Thursday, Tony had bigger worries about than how much he missed his boyfriend. His parents were visiting.

They had made the arrangements in the middle of May when Tony had called about visiting. Maria had expressed a need to see Tony’s home, to make sure that it, and the neighborhood, and the town, and everything anywhere near him was good enough for her baby. She always had been oddly protective when given the opportunity.

It was obvious that Howard had been keeping her in check for the years since Tony’s move.

Tony had called just to ask about what a good time would be to come down to New York. He’d barely gotten halfway through basic pleasantries with his father, when… well:

“Hey Dad.”

“Tony! Good to hear from you. How are you doi—”

His mother’s voice broke in, almost faster than even Tony could understand, and he’d grown up with it. “Tony? Baby is that you? How are you? Are you eating right? Do you really have a boyfriend?”

“Um, yes, good, I think so, and yes. It’s good to hear your voice, Mom.” Tony was glad she wasn’t able to see the smirk on his face. She was always like that. Rapid-fire questions that no person would ever answer in the negative.

“Stop laughing at me,” Maria demanded, apparently having read his mind through the telephone. “You’re not too old to spank, you know.”

Tony refrained from saying anything snarky about having a boyfriend for that, but only just. “Yes, Mom.”

“So when are we coming to visit you?” She could always be trusted to go straight to the heart of the matter. “Your Daddy says we can visit you this summer.”

Tony’s heart stopped. Visit? Him? In his three bedroom house in the suburbs?

Howard’s voice broke in, “I said _he_ was coming to visit _us_ , Maria.”

“I don’t want him to come visit,” she growled, and Tony could feel his already-stopped heart shrivel a little. “I want to go to him! I want to see where my baby is living!”

As his heartbeat picked back up, Tony worried he was about to become a character in a heart disease awareness video. _This is what comes of eating Cheetos, kids. A heart attack at age 29._

Howard sighed. “We have to ask Tony about that, Sweetheart, not just assume he’s amenable to houseguests.”

“Amenable! I’m his mother! Of course he’s amenable to me.” Not for the first time, Tony marveled at the notion of a relationship where his father was the voice of reason.

He didn’t really have a choice, though. Unless he wanted to convince his mother that he was living in a brothel and shooting heroin, he had to invite them. Best to get it over with fast, then.

“Okay,” he said simply. “Why don’t you guys come down the first week in June? School gets out on Tuesday.”

“It’s a date,” agreed Maria without even consulting either calendar or husband.

Fortunately, Howard just laughed and warned, “I’m not sure if you know what you’re in for here, Tony.”

“I think I’ll live,” he answered gamely.

Once again Maria broke in to ask, “Will your boyfriend be there?”

“I don’t think so, Mom.”

How little he knew.

 

*

 

Thursday morning came far too quickly. Tony had spent all of Wednesday cleaning and grocery shopping and cleaning some more, which was not the ideal way to spend the first day of one’s summer vacation.

Still, he didn’t want his mother to come to visit and spend the day cleaning instead because her standards of clean and his were different.

He woke early and vacuumed the living room. Again. Then he went and retrieved the very last piece of his birthday cake from the fridge. It was a good breakfast, even if it was verging on too-old-to-eat. Tony would be damned if he was going to throw any of it away.

He had barely even taken a bite— the time was 7:42 on his microwave clock—when the doorbell rang.

Fuck. His parents were really there. Why the hell had they gotten up before dawn to drive to his house? Was a few hours really going to make such a difference?

When he got to his front door, however, he could see through his front window that it wasn’t his parents. They didn’t drive a green sports car.

“Loki?” he asked as he opened the door. Loki knew his parents were coming, and of course he wanted to meet them, but… well that look was not of a desire to meet Tony’s parents.

His green eyed vixen looked like he hadn’t slept, or at best, he’d slept in the clothes he was wearing. His hair was sticking up everywhere—not in the usual artful way—and there were deep dark rings under his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a rough voice that sounded very much like first words of the day. “But I-I’m—” He broke off to take another deep breath, and Tony decided to intervene.

“Come on,” he said, leading Loki toward the stairs. “You could use a hot shower and a change of clothes, and I’m pretty sure I know where you can get both.”

Loki let his head rest on Tony’s arm and allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs. He didn’t offer any more information, and as much as it killed him, Tony didn’t ask. Loki would share in his own time. He always did.

Tony set him up with the shower, shoving a bottle of expensive bodywash into his hands and telling him to have fun, then he grabbed some of Loki’s favorite clothes out of the closet. The bright green button down, the black skinny jeans… okay, they just might have been some of Tony’s favorites too, but they were no Winter Break jeans. There was no way Tony was letting his parents anywhere near Loki in those, and oh gods his parents were going to be there anytime.

Loki slunk out of the bathroom looking soggy and still miserable. It hurt Tony’s heart to look at, but asking was still not a good idea. So instead, he helped him dress. Not in a sexualized way, but in what he hoped was a loving way. It was hard to tell with that much perfect pale skin stretched beneath his hands.

When they made their way downstairs half an hour after Loki had arrived, not a word had been spoken since Tony had sent Loki into the shower.

Loki, perhaps out of habit, headed straight for the refrigerator and started pulling out ingredients. When he set something down on the table, though, his lips turned down.

“Really, Tony? Cake for breakfast?” The disappointment in his tone was almost paternal, and it made Tony want to apologize and promise to do better in the future.

Instead, he protested. “It’s not gonna be good much longer! And it’s way better than anything I can cook!”

“You should have already thrown it away, and if you’re so attached to cake, I’ll make you another.” Loki rolled his eyes as though his patience was being tested by a small child. After putting a ton of bacon into the oven, he started whipping eggs together for scrambling, and Tony tried not to salivate. Loki’s scrambled eggs were the best. Who knew that Swiss cheese was so good with eggs? (Apparently Julia Child, as Loki had once informed him with a huff.)

Loki looked up at him sharply after a few moments. “Aren’t you going to get rid of that?” He motioned toward the cake.

Tony threw up a protecting hand. “But I don’t wann—”

The doorbell rang for a second time that morning. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

Practically leaping from his place at the table, Tony ran to the door.

He swung it open to find them standing there. It was surreal. Howard and Maria Stark were at his door. His parents had come to see him.

Maria didn’t give him much time to be stunned, throwing her arms around him and crying “Tony, sweetheart, you look wonderful!”

Howard smiled from behind her, and the two of them shared a nod. “She’s right, of course. And the pictures I got didn’t do the house justice.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Tony grinned. “ _I_ like it.”

“It’s beautiful, Tony,” his mother gushed, letting him go and wandering in, cooing over the ‘darling furniture’.

His father came up beside him as they watched her head into the living room. “She’s going to be like this all day, you know. Maybe tomorrow, too.”

“That’s okay. I kinda missed it.”

Howard laughed. “I’ll bring in the bags later. For now, lets keep your mother from tossing the place in her attempt to see every inch of it.”

That was when he remembered the underage boyfriend in his kitchen. “Shit.”

“That bad?” Howard raised an eyebrow at him.

His mother had apparently heard him over her exclamations, and frowned up at him. “Tony! When did you start using such bad language?”

“Best you don’t answer that,” Howard muttered near his ear. “She’s have my head if she realizes you learned it from me.”

“I heard that, Howard Stark,” she glowered. Then she stopped. “Do I smell bacon?”

Howard perked up. “And here I thought we were going to have to take you out for breakfast. Where did you learn to cook bacon?”

Tony sighed. “I’m not supposed to curse, right?”

Meanwhile, his mother was headed toward the kitchen.

“Mom! Hey, why don’t I show you the kitchen?” he asked, exaggeratedly loudly. It wasn’t that he wanted Loki to hide in the closet or anything, he just didn’t want surprise!Maria Stark coming down on his boyfriend’s head.

They got into the kitchen in time to find Loki washing the cake plate.

“Hey!” Tony exclaimed. “I was gonna eat that!”

Loki looked up from the clean plate disdainfully. “Yes I know. You were going to eat week-old birthday cake. For breakfast.” Then his face transformed at the sight of Maria, giving her a brilliant smile. “You must be Mrs. Stark.”

Maria looked surprised, but not shocked. “And you must be the boyfriend Howard won’t tell me about.”

“Maria, I told you Tony’s personal life was none of our business unless he chose to share it,” Howard caught up with them and gave Tony an apologetic look.

Maria rolled her eyes. “Given the fact that he is here, Howard darling, I believe that Tony has chosen to share.”

Loki frowned uncomfortably. “Ah, no, I’m afraid that was all me. I showed up uninvited this morning, and thought the least I could do was feed Tony.”

“Why, Dear, you look exhausted!” Maria put a hand on Loki’s shoulder sympathetically. “Not that you look _bad_ , but those dark circles! Didn’t you sleep well?”

Loki smiled sheepishly and shook his head. “Not so well, no. I’m afraid I had a less than pleasant evening at home, and Tony is my escape.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed and his family disappeared from his list of ‘currently important things’. “What happened? Did Odin do something stupid? Again?”

“You could say that,” Loki blushed profusely, but his eyes met Tony’s and didn’t yield. “He, um… he threw me out.”

Maria gasped. “Your… father?” she asked tentatively.

Loki nodded, and her eyes flashed murder. It was cute that his mother was prepared to kill for his boyfriend, but he thought maybe murder wasn’t the ideal way to spend family-together-time.

He sauntered over and wrapped his arms around Loki’s waist. “What happened, Babe? Or you not wanna talk about it?”

“Thor outed me. I think it was an accident, but the result was the same.” Loki leaned his head over on Anthony’s shoulder. “Apparently I was disappointing enough with all this art nonsense, but _gay_ artists are not at all welcome.”

Tony heard Howard’s quiet curse from all the way across the room. “What an ass. Almost as bad as I was.”

Loki jerked his head up and pinned Howard with a hard look. “Worse, but only because you didn’t mean to hurt Tony. You were just thoughtless.” With a shake of his head, he looked down his nose and Howard and said, “I trust it will not happen again.”

Maria laughed, and it was just as beautiful as Tony remembered from his childhood. “Oh Tony, I’m so happy. You’ve found someone lovely.”

Tony turned to look at her, a bit surprised. He found Howard grinning, too.

“Huh?”

Howard chuckled, and said to Loki, “I’m not going to ask how old you are young man, but I hope that when you turn eighteen, you’ll consider sticking around anyway.”

Loki grinned. “He’s already asked me to stay, and I can’t disappoint my Tony. Now if you’ll excuse me, the eggs need tending. Breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes. Tony, show your family around.”

Tony did so, in something of a daze. His parents were there. They had met Loki. Loki had been rude to Howard, and Howard seemed to like him…anyway? Because of it? Loki had been kicked out of his house. For being gay, of all the ridiculous antiquated bullshit. Tony had only thought he wanted to kick Odin before.

He finished showing his parents the lovely pool in his backyard when the smell of bacon came wafting from the kitchen window. Loki had opened it, and was motioning them in. Breakfast. Even if his parents hadn’t already been enamored of his Loki, his cooking was enough to change anyone’s mind.

On their way back in, Howard caught him by the arm and held him back a pace. “I like him. He’s… god, tell me he’s at least sixteen?”

Tony nodded. “Seventeen in September. He um… he graduates in December.”

“One of your students?”

“Yes, Sir,” Anthony hung his head a bit. “I swear, though, I didn’t—”

Howard snorted loudly. “Don’t be stupid, Tony. You’re capable of a lot of dumb things, and maybe even some bad ones, but seducing kids isn’t one of them.”

Having overheard the last part of the conversation, Loki sighed. “Trying to tell you about how he seduced me and stole my innocence, is he?” he asked in that not-so-patient tone he got when they discussed Tony’s wrongdoings. “He’s an idiot, of course, since it was obviously the other way around.”

Howard laughed at that, but then went serious. “As long as you don’t feel used, I guess that’s all that matters, isn’t it?

Loki grinned. “I think we’re going to get along beautifully, Mr. Stark.”

Horrifyingly enough, they did.

After an excellent breakfast, the four of them were sitting around the table, three trying their best to embarrass Tony. One guess which one was the odd man out.

“And then when he was eleven and started high school, he told me that high school boys did not have Batman underoos.” Maria was shaking her head sadly. “It was the end of an era.”

“Ah,” Loki nodded, “but not the end of Tony’s love affair with Batman. He owns every single one of those movies. Even the one with the nipples on the costume. And the one with George Clooney.”

Tony was trying to decide if they would notice if he snuck out and found a hole in which to curl up and die of shame. That was when the doorbell rang for the third time in one morning.

Seriously?

Tony sighed, stood, and went to find yet another car in his drive, an expensive looking… that was Thor’s car. He opened the door so fast that the air pulled inward and mussed Fandral’s perfect hair. Fandral. And Thor.

Tony refrained from hitting Thor, but it was a close-run thing. The little bastard had outed his boyfriend (fiancé?) and made his life harder.

“Where’s Loki?” Thor demanded, and started to try to push past Tony into the house.

Okay, maybe Tony was going to hit him after all.

Fortunately for everyone, Fandral grabbed Thor by the arm and pulled him back. “Not our house, Thor, and no reason at all to be rude. This isn’t Mr.—Tony’s fault.”

“No, it’s not,” Tony glowered at the hulking blond nitwit. No wonder Loki called him an oaf. “I could throw around an idea or two as to whose fault it is, though.”

Fandral sighed, but instead of being annoyed with Tony, he gave him an apologetic look. “Thor, we know Loki is here. That means he’s safe.”

“But he’s with—”

“His boyfriend?” Fandral pointed out more than asked.

Tony sighed. “Loki?” he called into the other room.

A moment later, a suspicious looking Loki came in, and immediately glowered at Thor.

“Before you turn and go back in the kitchen, Green Eyes,” Tony halted the inevitable explosion for just a moment. “We need to have a quick discussion.”

“About what?” Loki asked haughtily. “I’ve been kicked out. I think that’s pretty final.”

“But you can’t live here, Loki,” Fandral broke in. “You could get Tony in trouble.”

Loki paused at that. He obviously hadn’t considered that angle.

“So here’s the thing,” Fandral continued, trying not to fidget and failing utterly. “I’m not going to be heading down to New York until January. So… you could come live with me until graduation, and then straight to Pratt, right?”

“You were leaving next month,” Loki said flatly, unimpressed.

Fandral sighed. “Well now I’m not. Look,” he took a step into the house in order to stand face to face with Loki. “Yes, I’m changing my plans so you can come live with us. You’re my friend, and I know you’d do it for me.” Loki started to open his mouth, but Fandral threw his hand up. “Don’t say you wouldn’t, just… stop. Let me do something for you, for once.”

Tony nodded thoughtfully. “Then, presuming you get into your art school, everything is just like you planned it before.”

“Yes!” Fandral agreed at a completely unnecessary decibel level, obviously happy to have someone agree with him. “And I already took your clothes to my place.”

“After Odin threw them out, no doubt.” Loki turned his nose up. “Gods, he probably thinks we’re screwing.”

Fandral and Thor both blushed then, making the truth of the accusation obvious.

“Tony? Loki?” Maria’s voice came from the kitchen. “Is everything alright?”

“Fine, Mrs. Stark,” Loki called. “We’re done here, be right back.”

Fandral’s mouth fell open before he controlled himself. “Meet the parents?”

“Yes,” Loki answered smugly. “Now if there’s nothing else, my future parents-in-law are waiting. Thank you Fandral.”

And he closed the door in their faces.

“You ever gonna talk to Thor again?” Tony asked, wondering if he even cared about the answer.

Loki shrugged. “Probably. But not while I have more important things to do.”

“Like getting to know your future parents-in-law?” Tony asked, an eyebrow raised.

The response was deadpan, and not in a sarcastic, jokey way. “Like getting to know my future parents-in-law.”

Grabbing Tony’s hand, Loki headed back to the kitchen.


	21. drift

It was a bad night.

It wasn’t supposed to be a bad night.

Tony had bought all the romantic nonsense: flowers, candles, champagne; and he’d even tried to make dinner. Fortunately, he’d thought ahead and also ordered dinner, just in case he burned the chicken.

So steak it was.

He had it warming in the oven, and Loki was supposed to be home at six.

At 5:50, his phone rang.

“Tony? I’m sorry, I know I’m supposed to be home in a few minutes, but I had to stay.” Loki’s voice was almost drowned out by laugher and music in the background.

“A party?” Tony asked, not even trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. Fuck, but he was a whiny ball and chain.

“A…? No, no, that’s just the other artists,” Loki denied. “They’re setting up for tomorrow too, and they thought we should all have pizza and beer while we worked.”

“Right,” Tony answered, not even trying to sound convinced. “So are you coming home in the morning instead?”

The silence was all the answer he needed.

“Okay, then. I’m gonna go get dinner. Have fun.” He hung up the phone before Loki could say anything else. It was childish, but he didn’t want to hear the excuses. He was used to them.

He’d known coming into the situation that it wasn’t likely to end well, but watching Loki slowly drift away from him had been painful to a degree he hadn’t thought possible. More and more weekends that he had to stay in the city to finish projects, fewer and fewer calls home on nights like that.

Tony thought again and again about leaving his position at the school, but that was useless. Loki didn’t give a damn about money, he loved art.

And Tony couldn’t make himself an artist.

He wondered if Loki had already found himself an apartment to move into when he graduated in May. Or if he had someone he was going to move in with. Would he come get all of his things while Tony was there, or would he wait for a school day, and let Tony come home to an empty shell of a house?

He tossed dinner in the trash with the remains of his attempt at cooking, and walked it out to the trash can in the garage.

His phone rang. Bruce.

“Hey man, kinda busy,” he said in lieu of a proper greeting.

Bruce sighed at him. “You sound like you might be busy doing something stupid, Tony. Why don’t we go out and grab dinner?”

“Just finished dinner,” he said, looking down into the trashcan. “Not hungry.”

“A movie, then.”

“No thanks, B. Think I’m gonna call it an early night.” Tony shook his head as though Bruce could see that through the phone.

Bruce sounded horrified. “It’s the first night of Spring Break, Tony.”

“Yeah, well a man in his thirties isn’t much for partying on Spring Break, you know?” Tony pushed the lid of the garbage can down and headed back toward the house.

“Screw that, Tony. We’re in our thirties, not dead.” He heard the sound of a car starting on the other end of the line. “I’m coming to get you, and we’re going out.”

And Bruce hung up on him.

Okay, fine, Tony thought. He’d go out with Bruce to a movie. Or maybe he’d go to a club, find a girl, hook up. Then that thought made him a little nauseous.

Maybe it was time to try the old Stark remedy for that.

When Bruce pulled up, Tony hopped in the passenger seat and started giving directions. Upon arrival, however, Bruce got dubious. “A club, Tony? I hardly think that’s a good idea.”

“You kidding? It’s a great idea.” Tony was sure it was the best idea he’d had in a while.

Bruce followed him in after a moment, looking horribly uncomfortable and out of place. When the bartender asked him for an order, he demurred, naming himself the designated driver. Tony, on the other hand, decided shots was the way to go. No dinner to get in the way of them sinking in, so much the better.

Tony did tequila shots until he forgot how many he’d had.

That was when he spotted the guy across the room. Messy black hair, just like Loki’s had been when they met. It was long now, and while Tony loved the way he sometimes kept it up in a bun, he missed what they’d had when Loki had been… present.

The guy, though, great ass, tight pants, pale skin that made Tony want to…

He found himself heading over there, mentally trying out pick-up lines. He was out of practice, but he was pretty sure ‘you look like the love of my life who just abandoned me’ wasn’t going to do it.

He was still a few steps away when he felt a firm hand on his shoulder. Then Bruce’s voice cut through the music. “What the hell are you doing, Tony?”

“You wan’ed me outatha house.” He was pretty sure he was supposed to be pulling away from Bruce, but instead he was leaning in. “How come he dosn’ love me ‘nymore, B?”

“What?” Bruce sounded outright shocked. “You’re an idiot, Tony, and we’re leaving.”

“No! Don’ wanna.” He tried to pull away, but as though Bruce was magnetized, he just fell back in. Bruce was pretty. Or had he just had too much to drink? It was so hard to tell…

Bruce put an arm firmly around his shoulder and dragged him out. When the cool March air hit his face, it made him want to cry.

“S’March, B.”

“I’m well aware of what month it is, Tony.” Bruce’s voice sounded strained. “What the hell were you thinking, trying to cheat on your boyfriend?”

“You din’ like me datin’ Loki ‘nyway.” Tony protested.

“I am fine with you dating Loki now that he’s twenty,” Bruce shook his head. “You know what I had a problem with, Tony, and we’re past that. You’re in a committed relationship, and you’re acting like an ass.”

“He left.”

“To go to college, yes,” Bruce agreed. “And he’ll be back soon, if I still remember how many years college lasts.”

“Nope. ‘S not comin’ home. S’March, an’ ‘esnot comin’ home.” Bruce tucked him into the passenger seat of his car, careful even though his posture was stiff and angry.

When he got into the driver’s seat, Bruce spared him a curious look. “Why don’t you think he’s coming home? And who cares if it’s March?”

Tony sighed. “S’ar ana-ani… ‘niversry. He’s ‘posta come home t’night. An ‘es not.” Tony did not sniffle at that. “S’never comin’ home B. ‘S gone.”

“You’re an idiot, Tony,” Bruce sighed.

“Y’said that ‘fore.” Tony continued not sniffling.

Bruce smacked the brakes with his foot. “Because it’s true, you idiot! Why did you think I called you tonight? Loki called me and asked me to keep an eye on you. He’s worried because he has to stay in New York, and he knows you’re too much of a child to take care of yourself!”

 “M’not!” Wait. Bruce had said something important. Something about… the car spun suddenly, and Tony wondered if maybe he’d lost some of his capacity to do tequila shots.

He woke up on his belly on the floor in his bedroom, still wearing his clothes from the night before. He smelled vaguely of vomit. There was a blanket draped loosely over his back and legs, but his head was free. There was a note in front of him:

_Thought you wouldn’t want to mess up your bedding with those clothes, made sure you were on your stomach so you wouldn’t choke on your own vomit and die. You’re paying to have my car cleaned._

_Hope you have a horrible hangover._

_Your friend,_

Tony had never been so thankful that Bruce was the level-headed adult to his kindergartener-on-a-bender. He cleaned himself up and threw everything he’d touched the night before in the washing machine.

Making himself some coffee, he ran the previous night through his head, what he could remember of it. Loki calling. Bruce calling. The club. Drinking _all_ the tequila. Almost hitting on some guy whose face he couldn’t even remember. Bruce saying… Bruce saying that Loki had called him. Bruce had come to take care of his stupid reckless ass because Loki had been worried.

All that added up to only one possible conclusion: Loki still loved him.

Tony grabbed his tablet and started working.

 

*

 

At 9 p.m. on the dot, Tony climbed out of a cab in front of some hipster art gallery in New York. He was wearing a black pinstripe suit, which he was sure wasn’t going to go over with the kind of person who frequented hipster art galleries, but Loki had always said he liked it.

When some girl tried to stop him and chat him up, he rethought the suit. Maybe it wasn’t so out of style.

A kid with black plastic glasses and a bleached undercut slipped an arm around her and whispered “He’s Loki’s, sweetie. Do you want to get your ass kicked?”

She pouted and slunk off, but Tony managed to stop the guy. “And Loki is…?” He looked around.

“Oh he’s set up in the back,” he motioned off in another direction. “Careful someone doesn’t mistake you for art and try to take you home!”

Then, of course, it became not weird by becoming the weirdest sensation ever.

He knew Loki had drawn him—Loki had drawn him many, many times. Seeing them up on a wall was surreal, though. Especially the naked ones. He tried not to blush, and failed horribly.

“Don’t worry, those ones aren’t for sale,” Loki’s voice came from behind him. “They’re my private collection. But my professor said they strengthened the showing. Makes me look more well-rounded if I can manage the whole anatomy.”

“And you didn’t just find someone else’s cock to paint?” Tony asked lightly, still pretty sure that having his own on display for everyone was better than having Loki ogling someone else’s.

Loki purred at him. “I’d much rather paint yours. With chocolate sauce, maybe.”

“I think that could be arranged,” Tony ground out, despite the fact that his vocal cords wanted to stop moving altogether.

“Happy anniversary, you enormous idiot.” Loki leaned up and kissed him softly. “Did you really almost cheat on me?”

Tony frowned. _Thanks, Bruce_. “No. I was way too drunk to get it up. If I’m ever drunk enough to think I can replace you, I’m about to pass out. Which I did, five minutes later.”

“Poor baby.” Loki cooed at him, and he knew he was forgiven. He’d still have to pay for it later by bottoming, he thought, but did it really count as punishment if he loved every minute of it?

“So, um…” He cleared his throat and tried again. “So I woke up and realized that I was being stupid.”

“Good.”

He scowled. “I’m not finished! I realized I was being stupid because I feel like I could lose you to this.” He motioned around to the artists, and patrons, and paintings of his naked self. Yikes.

Loki snorted, but let him continue.

“So I thought about it, and decided what would make me worry less.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out an envelope, handing it to Loki.

“What is this, Tony?” Loki started struggling with the glue to open the envelope—the very reason Tony had closed it firmly—so he didn’t notice Tony slip the velvet box out of his pocket and go down on one knee until it was done.

“I know I kind of asked you to marry me a long time ago,” Tony reminded him, flipping the box open to reveal the titanium band he’d purchased years before. “But I thought I should at least _kind of_ do it the old fashioned way. Marry me, Loki?”

Loki, standing there with plane tickets to Las Vegas in his hands and unshed tears in his eyes, just nodded. “Of course, you idiot. Took you long enough.”

 “Wait till we get home from Vegas to your real present,” Tony grinned, still on his knee. “I replaced the oven.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it, folks, and end to the adventures of Tony the high school physics teacher. I will not be writing another fic set in a school for a while...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it as much as I've enjoyed writing it, thanks to everyone who gets this far in the reading, leaves kudos, or comments. You guys have made my life brighter this past year.


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